A New World of War
by bathedinblood
Summary: With his Jiraiya's dream fulfilled, Naruto faded from the minds of his people. Alone and left to his seals, an experiment goes wrong and throws him across the stars. When he wakes up during the seige of Anvil Gate, he quickly realizes that war is a very common thing.
1. A Rough Landing

**Just as a forewarning, this is a distraction story: one that is being written for the sole purpose of clearing my head so I can focus on other stories. IF I post it, there will be many months in between updates. That being said, I have no interest whatsoever in half-assing this thing. It will also be used to further cultivate my writing abilities.**

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Chapter 1: A World of Strife

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It had all been too much, he had come to realize. The constant skirmishes with Tobi and his bastardized alliance with Kabuto. The friends he had lost, sometimes to the walking corpses of even more friends. Chouji and Ino lost to Asuma's resurrected body, the chain-smoking jounin weeping as his soul was brought back from death to watch his body kill the kids he had died to protect. Shikamaru had disappeared a week later, never to be seen again. Like he had seemed to have wished in his adolescence, he had simply melted into the forest, never to be bothered again.

The others he had lost to the ravages of time. Thirty years after Tobi's death and the end of the Village Hidden in the Sound, an assault undertaken by he and a few others, Kakashi and the rest of the jounin that had shaped his early life had all fallen prey to their own dwindling lifespans. Kurenai had gone first, the depression of losing Asuma and his students as well as her own son in the war leaving her a shadow of her former self. She had died peacefully in her sleep, joining her son and his father in the afterlife after nearly fifty years of loneliness. Tsunade had stuck around for a while, her mastery of medical ninjutsu battling against a life of booze and filthy hotel rooms, but liver cancer was her final, unyielding opponent. Anko had perished on one of her eccentric training trips, dying in a fight between two of her summons as she had tried to break up the fight despite her growing age. Kakashi himself had actually not been confirmed dead. The silver haired jounin had simply disappeared one day, though reports from the Land of Hot Springs indicated that a man fitting his description still lived there quietly.

But his closest friends, Sakura, Gaara, and Sasuke, had all fallen before his eyes. Sakura had died fighting alongside him, in the final fall of Tobi. The Zetsu clones Tobi had engineered with Kabuto's help had been far more numerous than they had realized. She had urged him to keep going, leaving her to single-handed fight off ten thousand copies of an S-class missing nin. She had managed it wonderfully, beating every last one to a pulp with the super strength she had inherited from her sensei. After he had finished scattering Tobi's molecules to the far corners of the Elemental Nations, he had returned to find her lying in a field of craters and corpses, dead from a fatal case of chakra exhaustion and covered in cuts and bruises.

Gaara had fallen not to the unholy alliance of Kabuto and Tobi, but to a bold move from Iwa, their new Kage rash and boastful in Oonoki's absence. A massive force of Iwa shinobi had assaulted Sunagakure, whose forces were preoccupied with the war on Akatsuki. It had fallen to Gaara and a handful of fresh genin to defend their home. He had culled their ranks, sinking them in quick sand and piercing their bodies with hardened projectiles, but he could not stop the combined attack of all the remaining jounin. When his withered body fell to the earth, the very desert shook with the rage of Sunagakure. Matsuri and Temari, the two leading jounin under Gaara, led a massive counter attack, rallying their troops and slaughtering the remaining Iwa nin. Gaara's sacrifice was immortalized forever, as the sand around his body had crystalized into glass upon his death, entombing him forever in a transparent coffin of solid glass. Iwagakure was later crushed and annexed by Kumogakure, the Tsuchikage's head sent along with a goodwill ambassador to Suna.

Sasuke, as predicted, died of his own ambitions. Never understanding the meaning of justice, he had sought the Fire Council in Konoha, demanding their lives for the mistreatment of Uchiha clan. After being driven back by the Hokage time and again, the avenger had withdrawn to study the secrets of the Mangekyou Sharingan, swearing his revenge upon the village that had slaughtered his kin and demonized his brother. His own experiments cost him his life, when he had summoned the Shinigami itself in an effort to retrieve the Yang portion of the Kyuubi's chakra, in hope of strengthening his eyes with the source of their power. The result had not been pretty. He had shown up just in time to see Sasuke cease to exist, the cruel laughter of the Shinigami echoing across the Valley of the End is it guzzled down yet another screaming soul.

But the one friend he had lost, the one he had never truly called a friend, had been Kurama. The fox had been irritable, miserable, and downright sadistic at the best of times, and yet he wouldn't have traded the demon for anything in the world. Kurama had been there with him since his birth, witnessing the injustices of his childhood and helping him survive his teenage years. Yet, nearly a year after peace had returned to the Elemental Nations, Kurama had ceased to exist. He had continued to mold to Naruto's soul until his identity had faded away, leaving the Rokudaime Hokage with an empty mind and an undying body. It had been the day Naruto had stepped down, allowing Konohamaru to take his grandfather's hat and reign in peace.

And here he was, nearly one hundred years old and looking not a day over twenty and Naruto Namikaze was tired. He now understood the double edged sword of immortality: while he remained forever young, everything he cared about died around him. He now understood how Kakuzu had become the introverted cynic that he had died as. The blonde, perpetual ball of energy that was Naruto had cooled into nearly a carbon copy of his father, from the white, flame-wreathed battlecoat to the Hirashin to the way his blonde hair framed his face, two long bangs along each side with spiky hair on top. Unlike his father, however, Naruto had cold blue eyes. Eyes that had seen war, and death, and betrayal. Upon the death of Hinata, his loving, yet unfortunately infertile wife, he had withdrawn from the Hidden Leaf Village altogether, seeking the sanctuary of Mount Myobokou as had his father and his sensei before him. There, he perfected his fuuinjutsu and senjutsu, though he could not see an actual use for them. In the few times strife had interrupted the Golden Age that blanketed the Elemental Nations; it had been resolved before any major military action could be taken. In his quest to fulfill Jiraiya's dream, he had made the shinobi nearly obsolete. As he looked back, maybe that had been the right thing to do: to be rid of a world full of warriors.

Now, he had complex seals that would have made his own father's head spin. He had millions of weapons sealed onto his body, and was proficient with every single one of them, from the bo staff to the katana to the tanto to the tonfa. His signature Hirashin kunai were within reach at all times, ready to use at a moment's notice. He had trained his body to perfection, able to engage Might Gai in a taijutsu match. He would still lose, most likely, but he was confident Gai would have at least activated a few gates before winning. He had mastered every wind jutsu he could get his hands on, something Temari had been certain in pounding into his head.

As he stood upon the carving of his own head atop the Hokage Monument, his precious village far below, he wondered if he had put everything into this experiment. With the way things had turned out, he wondered if he had the capacity to try as hard as he had in his youth. He had achieved his goals, regardless of how empty and hollow they were without his friends. What else did he have to strive for?

Naruto looked down at the intricately carved kunai, his weathered, cold eyes running over the engravings he had carved into the entire weapon meticulously, searching for even the slightest mistake. But as far as he could see, there were no missed arrays, no conflicting seals that would throw off his intended plan.

That plan was to travel to a seal that was placed all the way on the other side of the Elemental Nations, a seal placed at the very top of the mountain where Killer Bee had trained. If it worked, he would have free reign over the entirety of his Golden Age. He could police it with near instant reactions, allowing him to further break down the system he had grown up with. Its departure had wounded him long ago, but he'd had nearly forty years to mourn its passing. After he had abdicated the position of Hokage, the color of the world had been lost to him. The lofty title had been all he'd had of his childhood dreams, with Hinata and the rest gone.

With practiced ease brought on by nearly a century of muscle memory, Naruto threw his experimental kunai out over the setting sun, its tiny shape soon lost to the glare of dusk as the day ended in Konoha. He felt the familiar tug of the Hirashin within his mind, but he resisted. It had to get far away. With his chakra still in touch with the projectile, he activated the first set of seals on the kunai, transporting it to his destination. As it travelled, he activated the second set of seals, the ones that widened the 'passage' that it rode toward its destination long enough to accommodate his mass. The final set of seals, which were mostly the original Hirashin array, activated in tandem with second set and began to pull him toward the kunai as the margin of space became available. He disappeared into his signature flash of yellow, his body being pulled across miles within a few seconds. The turbulence he normally felt during these transitions was nearly nonexistent, but this was a different story. He felt the very fabric of his being pulled and tugged by the forces he put his body under. An unbearable howling filled his ears, forcing him to wince and try to hunch up in a futile effort to dampen the noise. Before him, the stars flew past him at such speeds that they were simply lines of light, and he was soon surrounded in a tunnel of distant galaxies.

_Well, this is unprecedented._ He thought to himself, hoping against hope that he would survive to account for this new lesson. Since it was a longer distance, he knew it would take even longer to exit the dimension he hurled himself through. All he could do was hold onto the connection and hope his body survived the trial. The sounds of distant explosions faintly pierced the howl of space and time being defied, and he strained his eyes beyond the streams of light in an attempt to see his surroundings, but he was still moving too fast.

_If I keep this up, I could end up in empty space._ He realized. Quickly weighing the pros and cons of dropping out early, he went for the luck he had carried with him through his life and ended the chakra flowing to his technique. He was instantly snapped out of his teleport, only to find himself in an unfortunate situation: passing through a cloud thousands of feet in the air.

On reflex alone, he issued forth a great burst of air with his Wind Style: Great Breakthrough, acting as a cushion that would slow his descent. As he savored the precious second or two it gave him to look around, he noticed that he did not recognize any of the lands below him. He had travelled the Elemental Nations far and wide, and there were few areas that had not met his gaze. Unfortunately, this was foreign territory for him. He began to fall again, but he let gravity have its way. The howling wind blew into his face, sending his spiky hair everywhere and howling into his ears. He squinted into the oncoming air, and performed another Great Breakthrough, but this time it wasn't enough. He tried again, adding even more chakra, but he seemed to have hit terminal velocity.

"OH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIII-" His words were lost to the thin air as he plummeted to the ground. As he neared the surface of the planet, he began to pick out mountains and crevices, dusty and sparse grassland with a few trees and patches of green here and there. He also noticed armored vehicles, not unlike the ones he had encountered in his brief forays outside of the Elemental Nations, firing on what looked like an old fort. He also realized that the fort was his final destination. If he hit the ground at the speed he was going, he would be nothing more than a painted crater when he hit. He channeled chakra into his lungs, preparing for the biggest Grand Great Breakthrough he had ever used. He waited, his patience frayed by the sight of the oncoming ground. He estimated his altitude, still channeling a good bit of his chakra.

_1,000 meters._ The clouds passed completely, allowing him a detailed view of the battle below. He could see helicopters flying over a bank of armored vehicles, narrowly dodging missiles being fired at them.

_800 meters._ Even though he had little way of altering course, he tried to avoid slamming into the fort itself, instead preferring the relatively soft dirt of the mountains behind it.

_600 meters._ He finished channeling his chakra and drew in a deep breath, the air forcing itself into his expanding lungs. He had to time it perfectly, or else his remarkable healing ability would be useless in a bubbling pile of red paste and pulverized bone.

_300 meters. NOW!_ He exhaled, his body jerking upward slightly as the enormous amount of wind – and more importantly, _energy_ – issued forth from his mouth, halting his rapid descent. He smiled, proud of his judgment, and readied one of his Hirashin kunai to throw. Unfortunately, he'd forgotten about those helicopters, and had no idea about the tiny chopper labeled TRAFFIC DIVISION until the windscreen slammed into him, knocking his breath out of him and clocking his head against it.

"Oh FUCK!" He faintly heard the pilot curse from the other side before he plummeted to the dirt, too out of it to right himself. Just his luck, he managed to land in a patch of dry grass, immensely preferable to the solid rock beside it. As darkness dimmed his vision, his experimental kunai landed beside him, its carvings alight with a blue tinge as it slowly lost the power from his super Hirashin. He looked over at it, his movement sluggish and eyes unseeing as unconsciousness came for him. His last coherent thoughts were, _Not bad for a test run._

* * *

Bai Tak really didn't know why he had volunteered for this mission. Kashkur was nowhere near Pesang, his homeland. To be perfectly honest, he'd only volunteered because Boot hadn't pounded that nervous excitement out of him. After dealing with men screaming at him in Tyran, a language he barely understood, and doing exercises that were taxing more on his mind than his body, Bai had left Boot Camp a Rifleman, but that did little to curb his enthusiasm. With his wife taken care of on military bounty, he had no other reason to risk his neck except for the men beside him. And except for Lau En and Cho Ligan, he had no affiliation with them besides being from Pesang. Still, they were his new buddies, and he could already feel that burgeoning sense of companionship found by all Gears in the Coalition of Ordered Governments, or the COG. Although Pesang was not 'officially' a part of the Coalition, it could offer up soldiers to die for them, and so here Bai was.

He looked through the viewport that the pilot used, the heavy thrumming of the motors and stink of the engines still new to him, straining to see the garrison that was Anvil Gate. Just as he was about to look away and go back to looking out the door, a loud crash echoed through the cabin as the small helicopter collided with a white and blonde _something_ in midair.

"OH FUCK!" Bai heard the pilot cry out over the noise, a testament to either his fright or Bai Tak's ability to discern voice over noise. Before they could so much as identify their attacker – for now he could see that it was a _man_ of all things – the mystery man plummeted to Sera, about 250 meters below. His blood rushing at the excitement, he nervously fingered the handle on the Lancer at his side, holding onto the barrel to keep it from slinging out the open cargo hold.

The pilot leaned back to focus on them, his voice shouting over the din of his own bird.

"We're coming up on the LZ now, but you guys gotta go check that guy out! We've got no other aircraft in the sky so you guys get to find out why the fuck some weirdo in a coat hit my chopper!" He seemed irritable about the whole ordeal, though whether it was out of worry for his helicopter or because he'd lost his cool in front of a bunch of green newbies, Bai neither knew nor cared. He was just excited to get some real action not to mention sate his curiosity on the guy that managed to tackle a helicopter in midflight.

Within seconds, the little chopper had landed, and all six Pesangas were disembarked and on the ground just as the helicopter hurried away, lest it be targeted by the UIR troops to the south. The Union of Independent Republics apparently had an interest in the oil refinery there, though it didn't take a genius to see that they were eyeing the city of Anvegad, and the fort that protected it, with some interest as well.

"Bai!" Cho decided to come over, since Bai was the eldest out of their group of twenty-somethings. "What do you think that was? To hit a chopper in midair?" There was no Pesan word for helicopter, so Cho substituted the Tyran slang for it instead.

"I don't know Cho, but we got orders to check it out. Hey, maybe the Indies learned how to fly without birds, eh?" He said with a cheeky grin. Cho smacked his shoulder in mirth, and once again the six Pesangas fell into total silence. Unlike their Tyran counterparts, the Pesangas were wearing three-quarter armor and modified boots so that their renowned stealth went mostly unhindered. They had orders to meet someone at the LZ, but the man had obviously radioed advance orders to the pilot. So they did what they did best: track their prey.

Bai was the first to come upon what could only be called a crash landing. A sizable crater lay in the middle of a patch of sturdy mountain grass, though it was obvious the dirt beneath was softer than the usual grade of mountain rock that surrounded them. And as he peeked cautiously into the hole, fighting the urge to pull his machete as he would have in his homeland, he found not one but two people in the hole.

One was a blonde man, tan in complexion with some strange markings on his cheeks, like whiskers, and wearing odd clothes. He wore a white coat that had a tall collar and red flames flowing across the bottom. With his back slammed into the ground, the coat had opened to show that the man was wearing a flak jacket of some kind, indicating some form of military, and black pants of unknown make with what looked like holsters of some kind on the sides. His feet were encased in sandals, of all things, black sandals that exposed his toes and heels, and yet his ankles were wrapped in bandages that led up underneath his pants legs.

The other man in the hole, this one conscious, was obviously a Gear. He wore the chest plates and the clunky boots that Bai had come to associate with all his comrades, though he was also an odd sight. He had a shock of red hair that stood out against his pale skin, and yet as he scrutinized the man that had fallen out of the air, Bai could see intricate tattoos swirling across his face. According to his limited knowledge of the COG, this man was from one of the South Islands, an archipelago of islands with deep tribal roots.

As the six Pesangas examined both men with equal interest, the Gear finally noticed his observers. He visibly started, though he made no move to draw the sidearm holster on his right thigh.

"Holy shit!" He said loudly, his strange accent and unfamiliar language perturbing Bai. "You lads really are silent, aren't you?" Since he was the unofficial spokesperson of their little group, Bai grinned widely.

"We very quiet, sah. It's what we do." Despite his unofficial title, Bai Tak still struggled at times with the Tyran language. It had so many consonants and syllables that he was unfamiliar with. Nevertheless, the red-headed man in the crater grinned, before grabbing the blonde man's arm.

"I'll bet this cocker scared you lads well enough, then? Your pilot said he slammed right into the chopper." He looked down with something akin to pity, then back up at the Pesangas. "From the looks of him, I'd say he was the one who was run down." He moved to lift the unconscious man up, but noticed that the Pesangas had made no move to help him. Puzzled, he looked back up at them, until he realized that though they were Gears, neither party knew the other. He nearly slapped himself.

"Name's Pad. Private Salton at your service, mates. Now get down here. We have to get you AND these guys to the CO. Odds are this bloody maniac is gonna be more talk than you lads."

Bai got the gist of what he meant, and with a quick iteration of Pesang, three of their number crawled down the crater to help Padrick haul Anvegad's newest prisoner out of his impact crater.

* * *

As Victor Hoffman waited with thinly veiled agitation for the field medic to finish dressing the wound on the back of his freshly shaven head, he had all kinds of things running through his mind. The first, and most important, was the Indie asshole that had snuck around behind their lines and let loose a rocket, killing Hoffman's CO and the commander of the Anvegad garrison, Captain Ranald Sander, as well as three of his main gunners. The second was how he was going to explain to their families – Sander's pregnant widow in particular – why they had died from a rear attack.

_I can't beat myself up too much about this, but... dammit, these are MY men._ He groused, his ire not lost on the med tech checking his wound over.

"You're clear to go, Lieutenant. Just don't slam your head into anything and you'll be fine." She quickly backed off, tending to the other eight men wounded in the attack.

"Oh damn, and I was just going to go do that," The irritable bald man muttered under his breath, knowing full well she couldn't hear him. Even if she had what would she have done; snipe at him with her high-minded wit, hands caked with the blood of his men? He had other things to worry about.

Hoffman exited the medical bay, walking slowly and adjusting his cap, the bandage on the back of his head upsetting the way it usually sat on his head. As he turned the corner, he found himself heading to Sander's office in an unconscious action, knowing he had to come up with what to do next and his automatically leading him to the room where all his administrative decisions had been made up until that very day. Only now, it was his office, he realize with a grim frown. The first thing he did when he reached the office was pick up the phone and order Sam Byrne and Pad Salton to check out the mountains behind the fort, only to realize half way through that Pad was the one assigned to greeting the Pesangas Sander had requested. Against his better judgment, he decided to wait: those little mountain folk would be extremely ideal for handling his pest problem. Now all he could do was hope against hope that no one would-

His door burst open at that moment, startling Hoffman as he began reaching for his sidearm, only to see Padrick Salton panting slightly in his doorway. The Lieutenant mentally berated himself for a reaction like that, and Pvt. Salton began to speak.

"Lt. Hoffman, the Pesangas are here like the Cap'n asked. But they had a bit of an issue with their chopper." Hoffman growled under his breath. Was he about to expend more resources to fix a grounded bird?

"What kind of issue? Spit it out, Private!" He didn't mean to sound overly gruff, but Pad was thick skinned; the extra bite didn't affect him.

"Well sir, they ran over some weird bloke with the chopper," he paused at Hoffman's blank look, "while they were 250 metres in the air." Now that was surprising. Even more so, Hoffman could see four small Pesangas standing guard over a man lying on the ground in the hallway, another two looking around at the people hustling by. Hoffman grumbled at the weirdness of the situation; he missed his enlisted days.

"Give me details, Private. Is he still alive? Is the bird okay?" Pad nodded to both, and began telling Hoffman about the incident. He told the Lieutenant about meeting the chopper, seeing a guy literally floating in midair (a big gust had caught his attention) and then getting run down by the small helicopter that the Pesangas arrived in. He told Hoffman how he and the Pesangas had rendezvoused at the site of the man's collision with the ground, and their surprise when they found him alive, albeit unconscious. He finished his story by holding up an ornately carved knife of an odd design.

"We found this right next to him, glowing blue and right odd, sir. We checked his holsters, and I think it's a throwing knife, sir. It's all he had on him. A bunch of knives and some tattoos. I think he's Special Forces of some kind, but I gotta tell you, sir..." Pad shook his head incredulously. "The Pesangas chopper was the only one in the air for _miles_. Unless he fell right out of space, I have no bloody idea how he got here."

Suddenly, Hoffman had an overwhelming urge to defy the orders of the med tech and slam his head into his desk until he either lost consciousness or this shit started making sense. The Indies blocking the road and putting up anti-aircraft ordnance was enough of a choke on his resources. The Special Forces that were in the mountain behind the fort were also a nuisance, and now they had a guy that got run over by a helicopter at 250 meters in the air and was still alive.

"Alright, send our mystery space walker to the medical bay and have some Gears posted to guard him in case he's hostile. I want you and Sgt. Byrne to take these Pesangas and search out the mountains behind the fort. Whoever the asshole that launched that rocket is, he's holed up in there, and I need you to find him and eliminate him. Search and destroy. You got that, Private?" Pad nodded quickly and turned to relay those orders while Hoffman bent over Sander's – no, _his_ – desk.

At this rate, he'd go crazy long before the Indies came close to taking the fort. He looked down at the desk, which sported the last scribbling of his deceased superior. He absently updated the map, rendering obsolete the writings of a man he had once looked up to. With the armored line approaching, he'd have to pull more ammunition from the stores set deep in the rock under Anvegad. Things were about to get interesting.

* * *

When Naruto awoke, if the morphine-induced haze where he barely opened his eyes could be considered wakefulness, he found himself restrained and under guard, if the two looming shadows to either side of him were any indication. With his vision blurry and his head pounding, he still reserved the peace of mind to feign unconsciousness, though the fuzzy numbness of the painkillers threatened to actually put him out. His mind felt sluggish, and he couldn't sense his chakra at all. That was most likely due to the morphine; shinobi had been known to be bereft of chakra control when their body did not fully respond to their commands. It irritated him slightly, but for now he settled to wait and observe.

As his eyesight cleared slightly, his metabolism creating energy faster than the morphine could numb him, he noticed someone in a white lab coat walk into the room. The two lunks on either side of him visibly stiffened, each saluting and barking out a stiff, "Ma'am!" The words weren't his native language, and Naruto felt like smacking himself had he any feeling in his arms. Obviously, he had jumped too far, as he was nowhere near the Elemental Nations. All of the shinobi hidden villages, not to mention the countries they protected, spoke the same language. If you wanted to deal with shinobi (i.e. hire them, sell or buy things from them, etc.) you had to know the language. Considering he could now recognize firearms, he had no doubt in his mind that these guys hadn't seen a ninja before.

_If things go sour, at least I have the element of surprise. These guys would probably freak at a transformation jutsu. Not to mention be fooled by one._

The new arrival, a woman by her stride and proportions, walked over to the medical equipment hooked up to Naruto, her eyes running over the beeping machines with expert attention. She then looked down at him and smiled, though whether it was a genuine smile or a show of teeth, he had no way of knowing in his drugged state. Her hair was short and brown, framing her face nicely. Her face was unblemished by freckles, scars, or any other imperfections, signifying that she hadn't seen many close range engagements. She was support, a noncombatant were it not for the military air she carried herself with.

"Well well, sleeping beauty is finally awake. Considering how far you fell and the chemicals you're on, I would have thought you'd be out for several days." His brow furrowed in confusion, though whether it was because he didn't understand the language or because he was still fuzzy in the head from his recent brush with death, she didn't know.

"My name is Chief Warrant Officer Rosa, I'm a medic. Can you understand me?" His eyes lit up with some recognition, though she couldn't guarantee that he'd fully understood her.

"Medic... ohayo hime." He tried to flirt, falling back on one of his first sensei's tricks. If it did anything, it conveyed that he understood the word medic... and little else. She sighed at this, and he could see she grasped the language barrier. She patted him on the shoulder and stood, the guards moving a little closer to him as she came back with a large syringe full of a clear liquid. He tensed slightly as she approached, causing his guard to tense as well. He relaxed slightly when the needle lowered to his intravenous tube as opposed to his bare skin. The guards backed off as Rosa did, and suddenly the room began to spin. He could feel a creeping numbness spreading from his arm to the rest of his body, putting him back to sleep. Just before he lost to unconsciousness, he heard Rosa pull one of the guards closer.

"I want Sheraya Olencu down here when she gets a chance. I know she's an interpreter between the Kashkuri and the COG, but an interpreter could probably still be able to communicate with him."

"Didn't you hear, Chief? She and Byrne are tying the knot. They even have a baby on the way." The guard returned. Before he could listen to any more, the drugs finally dragged Naruto down into a heavy sleep, his eyes closing as he emitted a light snore.

* * *

Sheraya Byrne stared down at her simple golden wedding band, still in relative shock that it had happened so quickly. Despite having known Samuel for being the resourceful little bastard he was, she was still baffled that he'd been able to find a wedding ring on such short notice. It was a little large for her, but for someone who had eyeballed it, Sam had done a very good job.

She was snapped out of her reverie when a knock on the door heralded a visitor. She stood from her meager office and opened the door quickly, hoping that it would be Samuel. She tried not to look too disappointed when it was one of his comrades, a guard from the medical wing.

"Mrs. Byrne? We need your translating skills in the ICU. We captured a guy that doesn't know a lick of Kashkuri or Tyran." The man said gruffly, hand on the sling of his Lancer that rested on his back. The title 'Mrs. Byrne' shocked her back into her little dream world. _I'll have to get used to that._ It didn't sound bad, though, and she cocked her head in confusion.

"If he doesn't speak either of the languages that I do, how can I help?" Logic was always her strong suit, but apparently Rosa had told her messenger to anticipate this question.

"Chief figured you'd say that. She said to 'get off your pregnant ass and get over here', her words not mine," The guard explained, emphasizing Rosa's choice of words with finger quotes. "She figured that as someone who has already learned a second language, you'd be best at deciphering this guy's speech." Sheraya frowned slightly; she and Rosa weren't exactly close friends, but they'd sat around the medical lounge joking and laughing long enough for Sheraya to get used to the Chief's gruff words.

"Tell the esteemed Chief Warrant Officer that as soon as I'm done with my ice cream and mood swings, I'll be there. Expect me at three, in other words." She smirked as the man slouched slightly at being the messenger boy between two sarcastic females.

"Alright, I'll tell- wait, did you say ice cream?" Sheraya closed the door abruptly, answering his question quite brashly. She knew he wouldn't be too offended; you don't operate within the same country as Victor Hoffman without developing thick skin. She sighed and looked down at her new ring again, adjusting it so it wouldn't fall off her finger. She gathered together a few linguistics books and a tape recorder so that she could examine the man's speech more closely later. With the deadline she had given the guard, she had roughly an hour to prepare, so she decided to leaf through a book on Pesan, since she knew there were Pesangas on the base now as well.

_Oh Sam, why didn't you wait until we left?_ She blushed and looked down at her not-yet-showing stomach. _Oh, right. THAT._

Before she knew it, an hour had passed. She paused halfway through the reference book she had been reading and decided to bring it along as well. Her office was on the other side of the market place from the main garrison building, so it took her a few minutes to navigate the wooden stalls of the rural town of Anvegad before she reached the old fort entrance. A few months ago, she would have been required to divulge her reason for entry, and all her possessions would be searched. Now, she breezed right through with a little wave to the guards. These days, she was both welcome in the fort, and everyone knew that Sgt. Byrne would crush the genitals of anyone dumb enough to search his wife.

Within five minutes, she had swept through the ancient hallways that had been converted into a modern command center and found herself in the whitewashed corridor that led to the ICU. She passed into the only room with armed guards, one of which the poor messenger she had ice cream snubbed earlier. She grinned at him, and he mock pouted, before letting her inside with a cheeky grin.

"Sheraya, I really need help here. I've got questions pouring out of my ears to ask this guy, and all he does is speak gibberish." The newly minted Mrs. Byrne rolled her eyes as Chief Warrant Officer Malory Rosa turned the corner, griping and worrying about her latest curiosity.

"You know, there are these things that keep questions inside your head. They're called _brains_." Sheraya couldn't resist a little byplay, and Rosa's narrowed eyes showed that Sheraya had won this round.

"Details, details. You don't need those floppy things in the army, anyway. Now I want to show you something before you get in there." Rosa hurried over to a table that held a few test records, Sheraya right behind.

"So, what's the deal with this guy?" Sheraya asked, trying to at least get some background on the person she would be examining. Rosa didn't bother to look up, but the incredulous tone in her voice was all too clear.

"I can't really explain it, so I'll just tell you what they told me: he was run over in mid-air by a helicopter at 200+ meters above the ground." Sheraya's eyes widened; he had been floating in midair and was hit by a _chopper_?!

"How on Sera is he still alive?" Sheraya demanded. The fact that he had been floating in midair was hard enough to believe, but that he survived a collision with both a helicopter and the ground after falling from that height was unbelievable.

"That's what I'm trying to show you," The doctor hissed gruffly. "I know that bone shot is in here somewhere." As Rosa rifled through the papers in search of what she had in mind, Sheraya used the lull to set down her books and pull up a chair. Seconds later, Rosa shoved an x-ray into her face.

"Look here, at his C6 and C7 vertebrae. This x-ray was taken twelve hours ago, when he was brought in. You can see that these vertebrae, the ones inferior to the skull that control nerves and muscle movement, are damn near shattered from his impact with the ground." Before Sheraya could absorb the foreign information, another x-ray was placed before her.

"This one was taken three hours ago. I talked to him long enough to make sure that he was not dead, and then knocked him out to see the extension of the damage." She placed another plastic reading in front of Sheraya, her fingers on the spinal joints she had pointed out earlier. To the interpreter's shock, there was no obvious sign of any injury ever occurring.

"I've got a guy who suffers an injury that would put a normal man on a ventilator, and within the same day it is completely healed. I have no medical explanation for this." Her finger jumped from the neck of the second scan to the cranium of the first.

"Here, we can see the signs of a minor hemorrhage within the brain cavity, something that is usually fatal. The cerebrospinal fluid here is low, indicating a tear in the membrane. On the second one," She moved her finger back to the second scan, "there are hardly any signs of hemorrhaging at all, and his cerebrospinal fluid is at normal levels."

"So, you want me to ask this guy why he isn't dead?" Sheraya reeled at the medical observation, wondering whether or not she would actually be talking to a human being. Rosa smirked and nodded.

"I wouldn't have put it that way, but I'm mighty curious. His bones are thicker than your average male, and his muscles are five times denser. He could probably bench press Hoffman in full armor WITH the twenty milligrams of Haldol we have running through his system." They had administered Haldol to keep him out of it, but even with four times the normal dosage, he was still sitting up straight, talking gibberish at his sole remaining guard, though he did yawn at times. Sheraya regarded the mysterious man with wide eyes. Suddenly, the lone guard in the room didn't seem so formidable, even with his Lancer at the ready.

"And I have to go 'interrogate' a guy who can break me apart like a toothpick?" Suddenly, she wished Sam hadn't been called out with Pad to do some scouting. Luckily, Rosa was quick to reassure her.

"Oh, don't worry. He's been doped up for the past hour; the most violent he's gonna get is having an argument with the chair. So far, the guards have only been able to determine one thing: he's _really_ high right now." Rosa smirked at that, and then pointed over to an observation window. The ICU had once been an interrogation room, but out of all the changes, the single view mirror had stayed. Through it, they could see their mystery guest balancing stools and other objects of increasing bulk on top of his head, the guard chortling with laughter. His defined muscles and broad form well concealed by his outlandish coat. If she hadn't heard about his muscle density, she would have thought the guard could beat him with little difficulty. As she watched him juggle small glass containers, she knew that drugged or not, he had the upper hand.

"Alright, I'll have a go at him." Before Rosa could offer some perverted retort, Sheraya had rounded the corner and knocked on the door. Her friend did not follow, preferring instead the observation window. Sheraya could feel her pulse quicken slightly, but she calmed herself. It was just a linguistics job.

As Naruto continued to entertain his 'guard', he felt his initial curiosity of this strange place ebbing. He'd thought that he would at least get to explore a bit before the nearest authority caught him. As it stood, though, he could tell from his first few minutes in this new land that it was rife with war. Even from within the white walls of his impromptu cell, he could faintly hear the sounds of battle, though it was obviously far away. He had considered sealing the IV drip, though he knew that they would simply replace it with another. He had grudgingly decided to leave it in, his meditative experience and otherworldly metabolism keeping the mind-numbing drugs at bay.

Just before he was going to try balancing by one hand on a stool the door opened inward, and another woman, this one not the 'Warrant Officer' he had met earlier. The new arrival had extremely tan skin, her dark hair shortened to where it did not go lower than her neck. It still fell down naturally, and her brown eyes finished the exotic look. She was small, but she had little hesitation in her step, something he admired somewhat. She was either uninformed, or confident that he wouldn't snap her neck. Either way, it mattered little to him; he was a few hours from escaping anyway. He had figured out the guard rotations, and the drugs they were using were gradually losing their potency; they weren't affecting him quite like they had at first as his body became used to them. When the next shift changed, he'd be out with no one the wiser and the only sign of his absence would be the embarrassed guards that let him go.

He smiled good-naturedly at the new arrival, his grin hiding his escape plan. He had no doubt that they'd detect any hint of deceit. She returned his smile amiably, setting her books down on a table near the door as she closed it. He examined her closely, though a nagging feeling he'd had since waking up was getting ever closer to being confirmed. He was no Hyuuga, but he'd been around. And he detected absolutely no chakra within the people in the room with him. They were literally devoid of chakra. Such a phenomenon took him by surprise, and irritated him somewhat. _That means I won't be able to use Genjutsu. Ah well, I never got the hang of it anyway._ He motioned toward the chair he'd been balancing earlier, and she took her seat gracefully.

"Alright, let's get this started." Sheraya said with a smile. "I'm Sheraya Byrne, and I'll be your interpreter." His vacant look confirmed her suspicions; he couldn't understand a word she had said. She decided to take a different route.

"Sheraya." She said with greater emphasis, pointing to herself. Naruto nodded, and pointed to himself as well.

"Naruto." His name came as no big surprise; with odd clothes and an unknown language, he was bound to have an unorthodox name. She smiled at his quick comprehension. At least he wasn't a moron. She tried to go a little further, since she was supposed to be examining his language. She decided to ask about his whisker marks.

"How did you get those," she asked, pointing at his cheeks and using her most obvious questioning tone, "were you born with them?"

He responded with a quick string of flowing words, so tightly packed that she couldn't tell where one word ended and the other began. He caught on to her confusion and repeated what he said, albeit this time more slowly. She jotted down the enunciations on her clipboard for later analysis, though her recorder was also on. When he realized she still couldn't understand him, he grimaced and held up a hand at his head, then lowered it to roughly half a meter off the ground. He was telling her he'd had them since he was small. Whether it was since birth – which would be even odder – or when he was very young, she had no way of knowing.

"Uh, alright. Now next I wanted to ask-" He tapped the bed he sat on impatiently, cutting her off.

"Sheraya-san." He said with a mischievous smile, before pointing at her new wedding ring. She frowned at first, before realizing his game. He wanted to trade questions.

"I got this from my husband, Samuel. He's a soldier here." She said, holding her hand up so that he could scrutinize it. His blue eyes ran over the gold band, appraising its shine and shape. He could tell it had been made recently, though could also see it was a little big for here.

"Sam-el." He tried the name, its foreign syllables difficult to him. He wanted to examine the ring more closely, in case there were names inscribed on it.

"Sam-U-el." Sheraya repeated, emphasizing the missing syllable. She marveled at how easy it was, chastising herself for assuming he hadn't been bright. She was so caught up in his intelligence; she didn't notice the weight leave her finger until she saw her gold ring in his hand, his eyes running over the interior with great interest.

"Hey!" Apparently the guard hadn't seen it either, as he quickly advanced on the two. Sheraya held up a hand as Naruto's head whipped around to focus on the guard, before he grinned nervously. Sheraya held out her other hand, and he dropped her wedding ring into it with an apologetic shrug. She secured it upon her left hand once more, and then refocused on the startlingly fast man before her. Her gaze scolded him, though he could tell that she was at least slightly amused, though amazement seemed the more prominent emotion he sensed in her. _Maybe that was crossing the line,_ he thought regretfully. Still, she was interested in learning about him, and she was someone to talk to, albeit with some difficulty.

"Alright thief, next question..." Sheraya said, her eyes narrowed slightly as Naruto had the decency to blush.

* * *

Sheraya left the room thirty minutes later, slightly exasperated but overall in a good mood. She'd gotten a good feel for how his language was structured, though it'd probably take her a few days to get down any coherent understanding. Naruto, however, seemed to be learning as well.

She was about to bid goodbye to Malory when the Chief grabbed her shoulder roughly, visibly agitated.

"Malory," Sheraya said hesitantly, "what's wrong with you?" The Chief just shook her head and held up a video disk, labeled 'CLASSIFIED'.

"You are not going to believe this." Malory said with wide eyes. With no other response, she turned and headed for the computer in the observation room, Sheraya right behind her with a worried expression. Had they discovered something about Naruto?

"I had security send me the footage of the first twenty minutes while I was waiting. I started screening it to see what bits to send to Hoffman later, and then I found this." Malory inserted the disk and waited impatiently for the computer to boot. Once it had, an image of Sheraya sitting across from Naruto popped up on the screen. Malory chose the time 15:08:07.57, which was roughly where Naruto had stolen her ring. In fact, Sheraya realized, it was the exact moment he had done it. She was looked down slightly, focused on her paper with her hand still slightly raised from where Naruto had been looking at her ring. The guard was staring off into space, visibly bored, and Naruto's eyes were still on the ring.

"Now I move it to one one-hundredths of a second later..." Malory did so by punching something into the computer. The next image showed Naruto no longer sitting on the bed, but leaning forward towards Sheraya, his fingers wrapped around her ring. Sheraya gasped in shock, then looked at the timer. Sure enough, time had lapsed just as Malory had said.

"That can't be right." She said, shaking her head at both the image and Malory's incredulous expression. The Chief rolled her eyes and sighed, then skipped to another one one-hundredths of a second. In this frame, her hand was still slightly raised, and the guard was still daydreaming, but Naruto was sitting where he had been, examining her ring as if he had never moved. He was _fast_.

"We have got to show Victor this." Sheraya said seriously. Suddenly, she didn't feel so comfortable about the blonde man she'd spent the last half hour analyzing. Malory nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, I'll send this to him tonight. You go home and see if you can figure out his gibberish; the sooner we can understand him, the better." Sheraya shivered at that.

"He's learning to understand us more quickly than I can translate." She said with a frown. "He's already got my name and Sam's down flawlessly, though at first he placed Byrne before our first names. I think, in his culture, they say the family name first. He also used honorifics, though I only picked up one." She was about to go into more detail, but Malory had gone back to typing onto the computer, having lost interest past the name placement. Sheraya huffed and headed for the door, waving with her free hand while she toted her things.

"I'll let you know if the Lieutenant wants to see you." Malory called after her. Sheraya waved again, but was out the door before anything more could be said. The Chief chuckled and went back to examining the footage, looking for any more faster-than-visible movements.

In the other room, Naruto watched through the tiny window on the door as Sheraya left, her shoulders a lot stiffer than when she had left his room. He shrugged; they'd probably caught his little prank on camera and were freaking out about it. He rifled through the words she'd used, trying to associate them with their meanings. He could tell they had grown up differently, with no clan focus and no honorifics, which meant the Coalition wasn't an old concept. _I think it may be more interesting to stick around._ He thought to himself as his guard threw back the wad of paper they had been tossing back and forth. He caught it on his elbow, rolled it along his shoulders, and flicked it back with little effort, his mind still wandering.

"Sheraya-san." He said experimentally. The foreign name wasn't too difficult to pronounce, but he had to remember that they didn't use honorifics. That meant to him he'd be referring to her, at least in his culture, in a familiar manner. It wasn't much of an adjustment, but he still made sure to memorize every word she'd used, trying to pick the names out from the words. It was a delightful quandary, something to keep his mind engaged in this white room. Soon enough, he'd have enough passable Tyran to understand what the people around him said. All he had to do was wait.

* * *

**This seems like a good stopping point. I'm going to try and build that Hannibal feel, where they all distrust Naruto except for Sheraya, who is so caught up in understanding him that the danger blows past her completely. But the Indies are about to start acting up too.**


	2. Starving the Fort

Samuel Byrne leaned against the wall next to Pad, his fingers scratching at his growing stubble as he waited somewhat impatiently for Lt. Hoffman's door to open. He and Private Salton had taken their new Pesanga troops for a spin, and he had to admit: the little fuckers were _silent._ He and Pad had only taken down one member of the ten man team that had infiltrated the rugged hills behind Anvegad. The rest had met their end in the form of a machete, courtesy of Bai Tak and his countrymen. What was worse, the little Gears had done it in near silence. If Sam and Pad hadn't have been watching, they would have never known the Pesangas had made their kills.

And here he was, indulging the time-honored tradition of 'Hurry up and wait' that had been bred into the army for generations, while Hoffman indulged some poor scout's suicidal tendencies. Whatever the news was, the volume and tone of Lt. Hoffman's voice indicated bad news.

_And I just got married._ In hindsight, maybe his timing had been somewhat rushed. But the more Sam thought of his beautiful girlfrie- no, _wife, _the more certain he became that he had made the right choice. As the wife of a Gear, Sheraya now had free reign among the troops. She had the right to go anywhere she pleased, with the exception of certain command rooms, and she could give Lt. Hoffman any amount of lip service she could stand, and he couldn't do a thing. Sam now realized that his wife wielded power most enlisted men could only dream of.

Sgt. Byrne was jolted out of his existential crisis as the doors to Hoffman's office were thrown open by the young corporal that had been on the receiving end of Hoffman's tirade. The man's face was pale, and he did his best to look composed as he fled the general area. Needless to say, he wasn't fooling anyone.

Sam rolled his eyes as the fresh Boot ran off, then he nudged Pvt. Salton on the arm.

"Come on, Pad. Let's get this over with. The sooner we're done with this, the sooner Hoffman turns back into another one of us mortals." Pad snorted with mirth, and together the two entered the lion's den, shutting the double doors behind them quietly as opposed to how they had been opened.

They found Lt. Hoffman as one would normally find him now that he was in command: bent over a map stressing about what to do about the enemy knocking on their front door. The bald commander made no move to acknowledge their arrival, but Sam tossed off a lazy salute anyway.

"Sgt. Byrne and Private Salton, reporting back from patrol, sir." He said with a smirk. "What got you so angry you made the young guy brown his briefs?"

Hoffman did look up this time, his bulldog frown present even now, though his furrowed brow indicated trouble. He grabbed a marking tool and drew a new line on the map, which was now covered in similar marks, then stood up and paced around the area behind his desk. This concerned Sam since he had seen this behavior before. Whenever Victor Hoffman was unsettled, he fell back to old instincts, pacing like a cornered predator.

"I just got intel from our scouts to the north that there was an explosion a few klicks out." Hoffman growled, his temper flaring again as he dwelled on the predicament. "Three hours later, one of the locals comes up and says that the underground river we use for water has dried up. It doesn't take an idiot to put two and two together; they've got us by the balls, and they're ready to wait us out." He punctuated his irritated report by kicking the chair next to him, rocking it off of its four legs, but not breaking it. He needed the furniture.

Sam couldn't stop the grimace from crossing his face. One of the reasons Anvegad's fort was so impregnable was its ability to last through a siege. With a small town and a few outlying farms, food was plentiful. An underground river had been tapped long ago, providing the fort with nearly an unlimited supply of fresh water. Now, however, it seemed that the reason for the fort's success wasn't exactly a closely guarded secret.

"I'm guessing we're going to get new ration protocols, then?" Sam knew right away that would be Hoffman's reaction: without their source of water, they would obviously wind up tightening their belts. The bald commander nodded grimly.

"I've already updated the SOPs. As of now, we are officially under siege. I'll have new orders for the mayor to look over by noon. I'm sure that's going to be a pleasant conversation." Hoffman growled. He looked over at the two enlisted men, suddenly realizing their previous mission. "But I didn't call you two in here to tell you about my problems. What do you have to report?"

"We found ten commando specialists camped out near the apex of the hills," Sam said, pointing out a nearly unblemished part of the map. "The Pesangas Captain Sander requested lived up to their hype: six green soldiers took out ten Indie commandos with no casualties, no firefights, there was hardly any sound at all. Those Pesangas are quiet little fuckers." Sam tried to overlook the pained wince that crossed Hoffman's face at the mention of his predecessor, but it was obvious Hoffman had looked up to him. Before an uncomfortable silence could settle in, Pad offered his piece.

"We only got one of the buggers ourselves, sir. The rest got nicked by those little guys and their machetes. One of them even lost his knob when he went for a piss." The red-headed South Islander said with a chuckle. Sam grinned at the memory as well; Cho had snuck up on one of the few remaining commandos while the man had snuck off to take a leak. Unfortunately, his cover had turned into the bush that the man had used for target practice. Cho had slid out from behind the impromptu urinal quickly, slashing at the man's wrists – and his manhood that was grasped in one hand – before beheading him. He'd griped the whole way back about getting pissed on, something the rest of the Gears had found amusing.

"They still had quite a bit of ordinance, and we brought back what food they had." Sam said, though he could hardly call the bastardized union of vomit and MRE the Indies handed out to their soldiers as food. "I know it isn't much, but it should help."

Hoffman nodded absently, his mind grasping the report of his new troops and their effectiveness. He couldn't tell what he was more surprised at, their stealth and killing ability, or the volume of Indies that had snuck into the hills.

"Alright, I'll get the quartermaster to get those Pesangas fitted with lighter plates. I hear they're not too fond of full kit. Sergeant, you and the private here can go debrief the Pesangas and tell them they may have another mission soon. I'm giving you boys thirty hours of leave; it's all I can spare you for." A knock on the door interrupted him, and Hoffman sighed wearily. "You two are dismissed; get out of here."

Sam and Pad both saluted smartly, then turned and walked to the door. When Sam opened it, a medical officer swept past him, her eyes locked on Hoffman as she clutched a data disk like it held the battle plans of the UIR. He and Pad shook their heads in unison and stepped out. Whatever was happening, it wasn't their business.

"Come on, Pad. Let's get this done so I can go see my wife." Sam said with a conspiratory smirk. Pad caught the look and wagged his finger.

"Ah ah ah, save it for the honeymoon, sir. You don't want to look desperate." Sam slugged him in the shoulder with a grin, Pad's own smile mirroring his own as they left the command building to find their Pesanga cohorts. Samuel's mind raced as he thought about seeing Sheraya again. She wouldn't belive him for anything.

* * *

If Sheraya hadn't seen everything she had seen over the course of the last two days, the man before her would have shocked her into a coma. In her endeavors to learn Naruto's language, she hadn't noticed that he had been learning hers as well. She had walked into his 'cell', notes and recorder in hand, and he had looked up and casually greeted her, "Good morning, Sheraya-san." She had been so startled she'd nearly dropped her things.

Since the previous day, he had continued to surprise her with his burgeoning understanding of the Tyran language, though she did have to correct him here and there. He was eager to learn, and soon Sheraya's focus moved from studying him to teaching him. That didn't mean she didn't ask questions, though. She'd discovered his full name, Naruto Namikaze, and he'd given her a rough translation of it. In her opinion, he was the exact opposite of the swirling vortex of energy that his name implied. When she'd asked his age, he simply smiled and shook his head.

"Old." He had said, his eyes glazing over as he stared into the distance. "Old. But not wise." She had talked with the guards as well, one of which admitted with a certain amount of guilt that he had spent his entire shift imparting the more coarse elements of Tyran vocabulary upon his prisoner. She'd smacked him with the clipboard when she discovered that while sentence structure was still something of a challenge, the many applications of the word _shit_ were firmly grasped within Naruto's mind.

From Naruto's perspective, he was rather enjoying himself. Having guessed right on their obliviousness to chakra and its uses, he had deployed clones to scour the fort. Several had gotten curious and traveled around the small village within, disguised as fully armored Gears. The memories had come back to him as he had lain in his cot, a spare brought over from one of the barracks. Considering his growing understanding of the language, several copies of himself mingling with the people had given him quite the repertoire of words and phrases to review in his head, using context and what he could gather from his conversations with Sheraya in order to guess at Tyran. He'd managed to nail down the meanings of a few words, though the tone and emphasis still stumped him at times. Apparently, a change in pitch and/or context would change the entire meaning of a word. 'Read' and 'foot' were especially interesting.

And Sheraya's dumbfounded expression had made the whole night of brainstorming worth it. In retrospect, it was probably disappointing for Naruto to be this easily amused. But considering he had imposed self-inflicted hermitage upon himself, this kind of human contact made him realize that he had missed people. The guard from the previous shift had also been generous enough to offer the fouler portions of the Tyran language, though whether it was for Naruto's benefit or his own humor, the shinobi couldn't tell. If the Third Hokage had taught him anything, it was that using coarse language around a woman was considered rude.

"Well now that you can understand me better, Lieutenant Hoffman asked me to 'interrogate' you." Sheraya said, her eyes still wide as she processed his grasp of the Tyran language. Naruto stiffened at the word, having heard it a few times in passing. Sheraya picked up on his wariness and chuckled.

"Oh, don't mind Vic. He's all bark and no bite, as far as you're concerned. Since it's my job to make sure you are able to understand us, that makes you my little project. And he can't lay a finger on you without answering to me." She patted him on the knee reassuringly. Naruto didn't pick up the entirety of the message, but he got the gist of what she meant, and smiled gratefully. While the term 'project' reminded him of Orochimaru, he was glad that he had at least one friend to back him up in the ever approaching meeting with this Hoffman. Even though Sheraya seemed sure that the lieutenant wouldn't do anything rash, a war with shrewd and deceitful individuals had taught Naruto that caution saved more lives than blind trust.

"So," He said awkwardly, trying to change the subject. "Tell me about your husband." While he was sure he wouldn't understand some of it, every moment of exposure to the Tyran language made it easier to interpret. And when Sheraya got to talking, she hardly cared to stop. The only effort came in coaxing her into speech.

"I can tell you all about him after I ask you these few questions from Vic. Is that alright?" She didn't bite, seeing right through his deflection. He sighed internally, but nodded anyway. She looked down at her clipboard, turning on her recorder along the way, and looked back up to ask her first question. But to her surprise and growing ire, Naruto had disappeared. Her head whipped from side to side as she searched for him, only to find her blonde prisoner standing directly behind the guard, who was absentmindedly filling in a crossword puzzle brought over from the rec room. Naruto peered over the Gear's shoulder silently, watching the man as he slowly filled in several spaces, before cursing and erasing his marks roughly. Sheraya was extremely tempted to call Naruto back over to her, but that would alert the guard. She looked down at her watch and saw that she had forty-five minutes left. It was enough time to ask Naruto her questions later, so she was content to merely watch in silence.

Naruto peered at the jumble of scratches and curves, his analytical mind attempting to connect the symbols to the pronunciations he was beginning to understand. TO him, it was like studying fuinjutsu all over again. Deciphering seemingly random script had become something of a hobby for Naruto. He could also hear the Gear, still oblivious to his presence, muttering the words aloud as well. It was like a crash course in Tyran, and he only had to listen. After observing the clueless guard for a couple minutes, he silently walked back over to where Sheraya was sitting and found his seat across from her like nothing had happened.

"As I was saying..." She said slowly, her eyes scolding him for breaking off the conversation. He shrugged sheepishly in response. She smacked his hand with the clipboard, and the blonde yanked his hand away with a small yelp of pain. He rubbed his knuckles and glowered, though she could see his playful nature beneath the visage, in the glint of his eyes.

"Anyway, Vic just wants me to ask you if you have any plans to threaten us, this fort, or the Coalition of Ordered Governments as a whole. So, got any evil schemes?" She prodded, more for her own curiosity than to follow Hoffman's orders. She was the wife of a Gear; she could pull rank on the bald commander if she wanted to.

"Well, I got here on accident." Naruto said tentatively, the words like a complex seal as he struggled to lend her his thoughts. He tried to remember the patterns his clones had heard in the speech of the villagers and Gears around Anvegad.

"I did not know this place was here. I am..." He trailed off, brow furrowed as he struggled to find the word he was looking for. Sheraya cocked a brow, and tried to supply his small repertoire of words.

"Exploring? Hunting? Lost?" He perked up at the last one.

"Yes. Lost. I do not know my way." He found that stating the assumed definition, if he could, served as clarification. Sheraya nodded and wrote down his exact words. Vic was anal about things like that, always trying to see past the veneer of the world around him, as if he were looking for traps within a jungle.

"And you pose no threat whatsoever to the COG?" And so it went on.

The video had been set to loop, though Hoffman was beginning to wish he had two going, one at normal speed and the other at the speed that had picked up the actions. And though he had watched it five times over, he still couldn't believe it.

* * *

"Rosa, are you ABSOLUTELY sure this hasn't been doctored?" It was the only plausible explanation, and yet Victor knew it would fall through. Sure enough, the Chief shook her head.

"I pulled these tapes AS SOON as they were recorded, and they've been in my office under lock and key ever since. Besides, look at Sheraya: her posture remains the exact same, and she's spooked throughout the rest of the session. There's no questioning it sir. He's fast."

Fast didn't even begin to cover it. He had removed Sheraya's ring at speeds too fast for the human eye, and yet Sheraya was still seeing him with only one guard present?! And if his eyes were to be believed, the guard had obviously been lured into some sense of security, since he was gazing off into la la land.

"Why didn't you bring this to me two days ago?" Hoffman tried to remain calm, but with the new ration protocol and the loss of their water supply, his patience was even thinner than usual. To her credit, Chief Rosa didn't back down from his piercing glare.

"He trusts Sheraya. And right now, I think that's the only thing keeping him in check. You've seen the footage, and I've seen his x-rays. I've tested his muscle density. If he wanted to, he could probably kick down the door into the hallway. My _point is_, he hasn't. Either he isn't interested in fighting us, he's friends with Byrne, or both. At this point, he is completely content." She cocked her brow and bit her lip, bargaining on the next one. "And according to Sheraya, he's beginning to understand our language. He said her name the first day, and has only been learning since."

Of all the things Hoffman hated about his commission, it was situations like this. Here he had a perfect physical human specimen, the likes of which any COG medical and military scientist would blow an Indie for the chance to study. A quick crack over the head and hooking him up to an IV drip would be good enough to tie him down until the siege was over, and then he could hand the kid over to the eggheads. With a physique like his, a medical breakthrough was nigh guaranteed. Handing Naruto over to the scientists might give the Coalition the edge they needed to defeat the UIR, after nearly sixty years of fighting.

On the other hand, this kid was absolutely harmless, as far as could be told. He and Sheraya were goofing off and joking like a couple of civilian friends, like they would go to a movie or out to eat at any time. He had displayed remarkable speed, and his biology was incredible, yet he showed no malice whatsoever. And if he went through with the science approach, as any man who loved the COG would, he would be betraying the trust that Naruto had given Sheraya. He would never be seen again, and she would be out for blood.

"Can he understand Tyran, Chief?" Hoffman growled, reaching into a desk drawer and pulling out his service pistol. Rosa blinked, somewhat alarmed, but nodded hurriedly.

"For the most part, yes. Just stick to simple sentences, and try not to use too many turns of phrase. You're not going to interrogate him, are you?!" Hoffman holstered his weapon and strode around his desk, nearly brushing Rosa off with his shoulder. He opened the door and held it, his eyes on the Chief Warrant Officer as he waited for her to exit.

"I've only got one question for him, and I'll be the one to ask him." Victor said with a frown. Rosa hurriedly dashed out the door, and he closed it behind him. Together, the two marched to the med bay at a relatively quick pace, passing by Gears and support personnel working to stock up the recently confiscated food and water. Now that they were effectively cut off from supply, Hoffman had ordered the seizure of every scrap of food and drop of water in the fort and its village. He had put the administrative team to work formulating ration quantities, and every measure was taken to make sure people would get their fill and no more. The townspeople hadn't been happy about the orders, but Hoffman was determined to hold out for as long as necessary.

When they reached the medical cell where Naruto and Sheraya were still conversing, Hoffman pointed a Gear out of the hallway and had the man follow him in. He pulled the soldier aside and addressed Rosa.

"I want you to call Byrne out here like you would normally. This Gear," He sent a piercing glare to the helmeted soldier, who stiffened ever so slightly, "will make sure she doesn't do anything rash while I talk to this kid. Are we clear?" Rosa frowned slightly, but slowly nodded her head in agreement. It wouldn't do now to argue with him now that he was up and running.

With that covered, Rosa crossed over to the door. Her hand shook slightly as she grasped the door, but a grunt from Hoffman steeled her. He was her commanding officer; she had to trust him, regardless of her own reservations. The door slid open easier than she would have thought, and she quickly put on the facade of medical indifference.

"... and then, I kicked him across the village. No lie, his head slammed into the main gate!" Rosa walked in to Naruto and Sheraya sharing a laugh as he told her about his life in his village. They continued to chuckle until Naruto noticed Rosa standing in the doorway. Sheraya ceased as well and followed his gaze, her grin still in place when she saw her friend.

"Oh, hey Malory. What's up?" Her tone even carried a chuckle in it, which made Rosa suddenly feel very dirty for participating in Hoffman's temporary farce. Still, she kept her voice level and her face indifferent, and acted her part.

"I've got some more tests you have to see. This guy just continues to surprise." She hated herself for saying it. Her self-loathing grew even more when she saw Sheraya so blatantly accept her words. The newly wed woman nodded a farewell to Naruto and stood up, leaving her things inside with him. She followed Rosa out the door and closed it behind them. Now that they were both out, Rosa turned to Sheraya just as the interpreter put her hands on her hips.

"So, what did you want to show me that was-" She was cut off when Hoffman and the guard appeared from the observation room. Sheraya's eyes went first to Hoffman, then the guard, and finally settled on Rosa, who had already turned away to hide her shame. Before she could react, the guard placed a hand on her shoulder as Hoffman swept past her, unholstering his pistol as he went.

"No, what are you doing?! Victor, stop!" Sheraya cried, struggled against her captor as the Gear grabbed both of her arms to stop her. Rosa fled to the hallway, closing the door behind her in an effort to hide from whatever Victor was planning. Sheraya continued to struggle, but a gloved hand restricted her ability to give Victor the tongue-lashing of the century as her shock turned to ire. Hoffman ignored her and threw open the door, striding in to address Naruto for the first time.

When the door opened, Naruto immediately stepped down off of the bed he was sitting on and took up a guarded stance. Hoffman ignored the obvious martial arts stance and stalked up within ten feet of Naruto before pointing the pistol in Naruto's face. To the young (well, in appearance) man's credit, he didn't flinch despite the gun ready to blow his gray matter all

over the wall behind him. Hoffman's eyes narrowed as he felt his gun was suddenly lighter, as if the magazine had been ejected.

"Give it back, kid. I've still got one in the chamber." He growled, and Naruto grinned as he held up Hoffman's clip in his left hand, his right beckoning the commander.

"Come and get it." For once, Hoffman smirked, somewhat content to be back to a black and white situation: an insolent brat was challenging his authority. Freak strength and speed or not, Hoffman tossed his gun away and cracked his knuckles in preparation to interrogate the blonde the old fashioned way. Naruto also tossed the magazine with it, though no one saw the two meet and the clip slide home in mid air. The two closed what little space there was between them in what could only be considered a flying grapple, their arms fighting for leverage to throw each other down. Hoffman stopped grabbing and brought an elbow across, but Naruto leaned back from the blow and captured the arm in a lock, spinning behind Hoffman in an attempt to overstretch him. Hoffman took a knee, using his weight to pull Naruto down toward him, then stood back up quickly. The action slammed Hoffman's bald head into Naruto's nose. The blonde stumbled back, releasing the lieutenant's arm, and barely ducked in time to avoid a straight punch. He followed up with some of his own, though they were rendered glancing blows upon Hoffman's forearms and sides.

The bald man pushed forward aggressively; he jabbed and elbowed with decent accuracy, forcing Naruto to backpedal somewhat to allow himself enough space to block. He felt the wall hit his back all too soon, and decided to stop playing around. He caught the fist coming toward his face and brought it over to the side, the other fist he caught as it tried to join his kidney with the concrete. They stood there for a second, Hoffman pushing Naruto into the wall, but Naruto allowing him to move no farther.

"Why haven't you killed us yet?" Hoffman snarled in his face, the power struggle stalemated. Naruto's brow furrowed as he glared right back into Hoffman's bulldog eyes. That's what this was all about, wasn't it?

"Because I don't want to." He gritted his teeth as Hoffman's push renewed in tenacity, forcing him to actually try to keep the fist out of his face.

"Sheraya's been in here every day for the past week with you, and you could have snapped her neck and escaped with no trouble. I'll ask you again: WHY. HAVEN'T. YOU. KILLED. US?" Victor's voice reached a deeper pitch and higher volume, nearly screaming his question into Naruto's face. He couldn't afford a gray area here; everyone under his command was at stake. Again, Naruto pushed back, only this time he pushed hard enough to send Hoffman to the other side of the med bay, slamming up against the empty bed. Naruto's guard made a move, but Hoffman held up his hand to stop him.

"I haven't done anything because you haven't given me a reason to! I have no idea where I am, or how to get back home. If it weren't for Sheraya, I'd have left the night I got here." Naruto said coldly, his eyes blazing with indignation. Hoffman nodded, then slowly stood up, retrieving his pistol from where it had landed. He noted that its magazine was securely locked in its place, then eyed Naruto warily.

"You could have killed me at any time." He stated. It was a simple fact: Hoffman had put all his strength into those blows, and the kid had stopped them cold. Naruto smirked.

"And you could have painted the wall with my head." They both nodded in respect, then Hoffman reeled on the guard this time. The Gear jumped back in surprise, not expecting to suddenly become the target of Hoffman's infamous ire.

"And don't think I didn't notice your lazy ass, Montez! I scrutinized those tapes, and in every one of them, you were sitting on your ass! Playing crossword, sleeping, all things against code for standing duty!" Pvt. Montez backed up slightly, which only invited Hoffman to get in his face.

"THE NEXT TIME YOU FEEL LIKE A CROSSWORD PUZZLE, I'LL TATTOO EVERY RATING AND RANK ACROSS YOUR FACE, SO YOU'LL NEVER FORGET! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME, PRIVATE?!" Hoffman's red face filled Montez's vision, and he suddenly felt faint.

"Y-y-yessir, Lieutenant! I'll shape up, sir!" And he nearly died; he'd forgotten that the COG was a collective, and there were no individuals. This concept had been punded into his head all through boot, and Hoffman's face purpled as he reared up for another go.

"I? I?! You've got two eyes, private! And neither of them were helping you do your job! So unless _the private_ decides to do his goddamned job, I'll have your head on a plate and served for evening mess! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!" Sometimes, Victor missed his NCO days a little too much.

"YES SIR! THE PRIVATE UNDERSTANDS PERFECTLY, SIR!" Montez belted out, his gaze straight ahead as if it were his first week of Boot all over again. Hoffman glared at him for several seconds, daring the private to even blink. Content that he'd gotten his point across, he stomped over to the door.

Sheraya was half-tempted to bite off her captor's hand in an effort to yell at Hoffman, but the commander opened up the door just before she opened her mouth. He looked haggard, but he gestured at her guard, who quickly released her.

"Apologies, ma'am." The Gear had the decency to say, though the look of pure murder she sent him could have turned wine to blood. He didn't look her in the eye, though his helmet hid his face perfectly anyway. She turned her gaze to Hoffman, who gestured toward the medical room.

"He isn't a threat to us, at least not for now. He also isn't hurt, so it's up to you to find him lodging and get him acquainted with people; I don't need him taking up space in my med bay." His tone was gruff, but she could tell that things had worked out well enough. Sheraya's mood brightened considerably, and she moved past Victor to see if Naruto was alright. As she did, her guard inched closer to Hoffman.

"Sir, are you sure you want to release the prisoner?" He asked, following the lieutenant as he walked out into the main hallway. There was no sign of Rosa; Hoffman made a note to talk to her later.

"Prisoner? Son, that man in there is an unwanted guest, not a prisoner. He could have escaped at any time." The Gear balked at that; surely no one could escape from deep within the fort!

Hoffman dismissed the Gear and headed back to his study, intent on trying to requisition more food and water. He'd been swatted down by command a dozen times now, but he wasn't going to quit until they promised at least one chopper's worth of provisions. _It's easy to deny supplies when you aren't the one starving. And we've only got so much food left. How long can this seige last?_ The last time he'd tried, Colonel Choi himself had threatened to demote him to PFC for pestering Command. Hoffman had been furious.

_"Sir, I've got five thousand starving civilians giving their food to a garrison of two hundred Gears. If I have to, I'll call every hour on the hour until you blow a hole in your own damned skull. With all due respect, Colonel, go fuck yourself. My men are more important than your goddamned reputation!"_

Choi had not responded, but had merely disconnected the line. Somehow Hoffman knew that the colonel would send something, though the amount had no guarantee. Still, he'd trade in his bar and every other commendation he'd received in his military career if it would get his men and their charges food and water. And with his recent disrespect toward the man who was largely in charge of the defense of Kashkur, odds are that was what would happen. He reached his office with no interruptions and was inside before anything else could trifle him. Considering he'd just gotten in a fight with a kid that could probably shatter cinderblocks, his own mortality was suddenly brought into perspective. What if, during the shelling that came every day and would follow henceforth, he suddenly thought of Sander, with no message of any kind to his wife. He walked over to his desk, fingers numb from his close brush with death.

Naruto – he had earned the right for Hoffman to call him by name – could have beaten him ragged and broken with little hassle, if the medical records and how he had thrown Victor across the room were any indication. That in itself was considered foolhardy, since Victor had provoked him on paranoia alone. It had been his best course at the time, but in all his years, Victor had hardly ever come across a truly neutral combatant. _And now he's stuck here with us. He said the only reason he's still here is because of his friendship with Sheraya. So I've only brought about another mouth to feed. The Pesangas will be hunting hard this week..._

With all his worries in mind, Lt. Hoffman began drafting a letter for Margaret, for the ever more likely scenario in which his last words would be passed to her along with a notice of decease. He expressed his love for her, even though their marriage was still newfound. He told her of his regret to still be fighting the war of their grandfathers, and that he wished everything could be peaceful for once on this war-torn planet. And he wrote very simply that his only wish at this point was to hold her close. He owed her that much for putting up with him.

* * *

Weeks passed, and their rations dwindled, consumed at an alarming rate between the Gears and the civilians. On two occassions, the food storage had been stolen from. His phone had remained silent, a fact that did nothing to raise Hoffman's hopes. The day after his fight with Naruto, Sheraya had burst into his office. Sgt. Byrne had to pull his pregnant wife off of Hoffman as she had thrown the tantrum of the century.

Officially released from medical, Naruto now had free reign of the fort, or as much as they could keep from him. He'd intentionally broken into Hoffman's office several times just to spite the bald man, but he'd quickly learned the situation that plagued Anvegad. With no water, every last vestige was reserved for drinking purposes. Not only that, but the sewer system was as ancient as the rest of the fort, and relied upon the infinite and constant supply of water from the underground river the Indies had been so good as to dam up. As such, there was no water to move the waste out of the town, and it soon reeked of human excrement. The town mayor, Alderman Casani, had organized a team of men to load up the human waste and dump it outside of the fort at nigh, under cover of darkness. It was dangerous, but living with the bacteria farm that was a pile of shit was one hundred times worse. A bullet would kill you quick. Dysentery and infections were the slow bleeders.

Sheraya was beginning to show, her slightly bulging belly detailing her pregnancy. As such, she received the same chow that Gears did, since she was eating for two. Only one Kashkuri had complained about it, and a single glare from Hoffman had silenced him before the argument could begin. With his wife beginning to come under the effects of carrying a child, Samuel Byrne became increasingly anxious. She had introduced him to Naruto, who assured him that no harm would come to Sheraya. Even so, the line between dissent and outright crime was growing ever thinner, and Sam worried if his wife might be targeted by angry natives.

It was the third week of the siege, twenty five days since the river had been blocked, when Hoffman's phone suddenly rang. The lieutenant had long given up hope of resupply, and had stared at it for a full three seconds before ripping the receiver from the rack.

"This is Lt. Hoffman, commander of the Anvegad garrison. Is that you, Colonel?" He tried to remain civil, since his last conversation with his superior had been less so. The colonel didn't seem to mind.

_"Lieutenant, I've got an outdated Corva loaded with fuel and provisions headed in your direction. If you can use those cannons attached to that fort of yours, it should be safe enough to land. This is all the aid we can spare for now."_ He sounded haggard, as if the battle for the rest of Kashkur wasn't going well. Hoffman immediately regretted chewing his ass in the earlier weeks.

"Thank you sir. I apologize if I was rude earlier. I was out of line." He had to kiss ass now, since there was a chance Choi would send more aid if Hoffman buttered him up.

_"Sod it, Lieutenant. Your job right now is to hold that fort. I'm just making sure your men don't eat each other. If you hold that fort, we'll be square." _He paused for a moment. _"And I want that pilot back in one piece, Hoffman. She's risking her neck for the lot of you."_

The line disconnected, and he set the receiver down gently. Somehow, his ire had brought about results from HQ, in defiance of both chain of command and whatever problems the rest of the army was facing. Still, he'd gotten his people food.

Victor stomped out of his office, making a bee line for the ancient cannon battery atop Anvil Gate. It was several flights of steps up to the top, but sure enough he found the chief engineer, Hollis, staring out toward the UIR forces while eating what passed for rations these days.

"Hollis!" Hoffman barked, startling the man and nearly making him drop his food. "We've got a bird coming in with food and fuel. When it gets here, I want that cannon to make sure those Indies' assholes are so tight, they won't be able to fart for a week. How many shells do you have?"

The engineer set his food down and half jogged, half sprinted to the ammo store, Hoffman right on his tail. Hollis threw open the doors, and Hoffman was content to see stacks upon stacks of ordinance.

"Sir, I could blow Gorasnaya off the map with all the shot I've got in here." Hollis said with a sneer. "You won't get any trouble from the ones in front of us." He then walked over to the raido and began ordering the other gunners up.

"The bird will be here in two hours, just as it hit dawn. We have until then to prepare. Get to it, Warrant Officer!" Hoffman barked. He turned on his heel and moved back down into the town, the stink not affecting him as it would have the first few days of the seige. He had to find Bai Tak and the rest of the Pesangas.

He did find them, or at least four of them, in the mess hall. Bai, Lau En, and Cho were all there running whetstones over their machetes. Their size still made them look like children to him, but they were the most brutal children he'd ever seen.

"Rifleman Tak!" He said gruffly, slapping the little Pesanga on the shoulder. If he was surprised to see Hoffman, Bai hid it behind his constant grin.

"What can we do, Hoffman sah?" He asked, and Hoffman was reminded of the little Tyran they spoke. They had improved dramatically, but it was still choppy.

"I need you to head up into the hills and make sure we get any surprises. I've got a chopper loaded with food on the way. I need those Indies up there _exterminated. _Do you understand?" Bai nodded enthusastically, then belted out a long string of Pesang to the others. His grin quickly spread to their faces as well. They began talking amongst each other animately, sheathing their blades and retreiving their rifles from under the table. Bai looked back at Hoffman.

"No worries, sah. We gut them like fish." Together, eerily quite despite the gear they were toting, the Pesangas stood up and moved off, preparing for their hunt. Hoffman's next order of business was finding Pad Salton. He trusted the little Pesangas, but a sniper on duty always calmed his nerves a bit.

Ten minutes later, he found Pad and Sheraya talking in the market place, which was now completely empty of the food and wares that had been sold there just a month prior. It was more of a meeting place than anything, since people preferred company to sitting alone in stink. Humans always were social creatures.

"Private Salton." Hoffman growled, nodding in Sheraya's direction. Pad turned and faced him, the dying light of the day giving his facial tattoos an odd glare.

"Sir?" Sheraya cocked her brow as well, interested in the news. If Hoffman thought it was important, she took it upon herself to be nosy.

"We have an old Corva coming in to resupply our food stores in about an hour. I want you to set up with that rifle of yours and watch the hills. I've sent the Pesangas up there as well, but I need the added insurance. With our cannons to the front and you boys to the back, that chopper should be safe."

"Should be?" A new voice joined in, and Hoffman turned with mild surprise to find Naruto, perched atop the wall that separated the market from the town square. How he had gotten up there, Hoffman had stopped asking days ago. He was just a natural at things.

"I can't guarantee one hundred percent safety. Even with the Pesangas in the hills, those commandos are clever bastards." He nodded to Pad and Sheraya, then walked toward the wall Naruto sat up. The blonde jumped down, taking the twelve foot fall and smoothly landing in a crouch. Such acts were becoming commonplace. He'd already climbed to the highest point, and had taken a sniper round from a UIR commando in the process. The Indie had been found minutes later with three of those kunai Naruto liked so much lodged in his face. No one messed with the blonde after that, though the fact he'd tossed Hoffman across a room made his list of challengers few in the first place.

"I'm not going to ask you to fight our battles." Hoffman said gruffly, not quite believing his own words. "But if you could help us in any way, I'd appreciate it." It felt dirty, asking for help after being so distrustful earlier. But Naruto didn't seem to mind.

"I'm not used to fighting wars with firearms and vehicles. But when the time comes, I'll do what I can." He didn't promise anything, but he didn't exactly refuse, either. _I guess I couldn't expect more._ Hoffman thought to himself. With that said, he ended the exchange with a curt nod and left. Just because Naruto wasn't a threat, it didn't mean Hoffman had to like him. The trio watched him stalk off, then Pad rolled his shoulders.

"Well, those Indies won't plink themselves. I'd better get on, you know how he gets." With that, he bid them farewell and jogged off, leaving Sheraya and Naruto alone in the market. The two grinned slightly as they watched Pad leave. They looked at each other and chuckled.

"So, Victor gets one phone call, and the next moment he's sprinting all over the fort. He really is a man of his people." Sheraya said. Naruto smirked.

"If it weren't for his gruff exterior, I might actually like him. He's a hard man, that one." Naruto's understanding of Tyran had grown exponentially since his release. He hardly even carried an accent. Sheraya frowned slightly.

"What will you do? To help, I mean. That helicopter is going to have food for everyone." She said imploringly. Naruto looked away, his arms crossed defensively.

"I promised to what I can. I didn't say I'd slaughter the soldiers beating on your door. This isn't my war, Sheraya." He pointed at her bulging stomach, and the child growing within. "Do you want to bring your kid up in a world like this? One so focused around military strength and might that it won't have a good life?" He walked away before she could answer, his fleeting steps leaving her to ponder his question. If she could, she would end the war right then and there. But the problem was, the generation that had started this war had all died out. It was a war that no one remembered the cause of. They just kept following the orders of their superiors, who in turn followed their orders as well. It was an endless cycle of war. Still, her thoughts turned to the future. Kashkur was a major offensive in a long line of battles. Once this one was over, for better or worse, the fighting would go somewhere else. And Anvegad would be a quiet little hamlet once again.

The hour flew by quickly, and sure enough, Hoffman was contacted over the radio by the pilot.

_"This is CC-Seventy-Four-Five calling Anvil Gate."_ She said. _"You boys have a place for me?"_

"Affirmative, Seven Four Five. There's a sloped hill slightly above the fort. We've got security teams all over it; you can hover and roll your cargo out there." Hoffman replied. "And mind the cannons. They're going to keep the Indies at bay."

"_Roger that, Anvil Gate. If it's all the same to you, I'll land. It's a bit breezy up here." _He couldn't blame her; the winds around Anvegad changed frequently due to the rivers and lakes nearby. All that evaporated air tended to change currents.

"There's a clearing just outside the walls. I know it's an old bird, but you should be able to land there." This was where Pad and Bai would earn their place; the fort broke the line of sight for their frontal attackers, but any dumbass with a rocket launcher could turn their life saving chopper into a fireball if he fired from the hills.

Sure enough, he heard the steady thrum of the helicopter approaching. As it got closer, he signaled Warrant Officer Hollis, who began firing on the UIR troops down range. It would keep them occupied. A few minutes later, sound was greeted by sight as the black silhouette of the Corva rose from the north-east, its rotors beating the shit out of the air as it struggled to haul its heavy load. She circled Hoffman's designated LZ twice before committing, setting down the landing struts just as Gears made a break from Anvegad to open ground. Hoffman watched from the wall, his binoculars torn between watching the hills for attackers and watching his relief roll off the chopper.

_"Off load the fuel first; I don't like sitting on a bomb any longer than I have to." _He heard the pilot say. His Gears, Sam Byrne included, began pulling the giant tank of fuel off of the Corva, and Hoffman breathed a sigh of relief. Another month of food and medicine, airdropped or not, definitely shaved some stress off of his psyche. He was so focused on managing the supplies that were being off-loaded, he didn't recognized the distant pop for what it was until he saw the rocket flying towards the Corva.

* * *

**AN: I am so disappointed in Judgment. It was hyped and hyped and hyped, but when the entire Lead team up and leaves, you know it will suck. No versus executions, no Horde mode, aiming reticules, only ten characters to choice from as opposed to Gears of War 3's seventy. Just a major disappointment.**

**Storywise, this seem like a good cliff hanger because I am conflicted about how this should continue. I have two outcomes, and both have their own merits. While I handle those, think about relaxing on a white sandy beach, litsening to the ocean... OF BLOOD.**


	3. Rushing Current

**I was gonna do an ancestry bit with Naruto and Baird – since Baird shares absolutely no emotional or psychological traits with his parents, their descriptions unknown – but time constraints as far as Anvil Gate and E-Day would both make him too young to fight on E-Day and make him younger than Samantha. So that problem is solved, but it will rear its ugly head once more when I introduce the two. Now then, time to alleviate that cliffhanger with a last-minute rescue!**

****He was already heading towards the chopper before the rocket launched. He heard Pad's Longshot bark a reply immediately after, which meant he had been watching the hills the whole time. This one had simply slipped past him. Naruto cleared the wall of the fort just as the rocket entered his field of view. His Hirashin kunai flew from his jacket, thrown in the same motion that drew it from its pocket. It embedded itself into the exhaust vent on either side of the rotor base, where the rocket was headed. He flashed to directly above the explosive projectile and swatted downward, striking the metal object hard and breaking a few fingers in the process.

He was too late to deflect it completely; the rocket slammed into the dirt instead of the helicopter, just fifteen feet below him. He braced himself, but the explosion still threw him into the air. The sound from the blast battered his sensitive ears, and shrapnel tore into his arms and chest, though he had shielded himself from the worst of it. It also rocked the chopper, causing it to bump him slightly and send him to the tough grass below. He landed hard onto his back, forcing what air was left in his lungs out into the dusty air.

"Gak!" He cried, blood spurting out as well from his punctured lung. His vision swam as his body struggled to compensate for the lack of oxygen. His breath came in slow, ragged gasps, but he could feel the wounds healing already. _I don't have time to lie here._ He thought to himself. Wincing from the pain, he slowly pushed himself to a sitting position, still catching his breath. He spat out another mouthful of blood, but the smell of burning fuel caught his nose and forced him to stand.

"Ah, shit." He'd learned the word 'shit' had many different uses, and in this case it was reluctant annoyance. He stumbled around the nose of the chopper – noting with some concern that the pilot couldn't open the door – and looked at the impact crater he had created. The rocket had definitely been designed for armor penetration, as the hole was deeper than he would have expected. Still, what concerned him were the holes torn by shrapnel in the chopper's side and fuel tank. Helicopter fuel spewed everywhere, and there were still some fires here and there. The chopper didn't have long. He had to move.

He kept moving forward until he reached the cargo bay, where Sam Byrne and another unknown Gear worked to offload the last pallet of food. By the time he reached them, his lung was stable enough for him to talk.

"Guys, you gotta get clear. The shrapnel punctured the fuel tank and damaged the engine. This thing's gonna – ack – blow..." Another spatter of blood painted the side of the chopper as he leaned against it, his legs suddenly weakened. Sam and the other Gear looked at each other, and then moved to help him. Naruto held up a hand to stop them.

"Get those supplies to the fort. I'll... I'll get the pilot." He barely got the words out before he ran out of breath. Sam noticed this immediately. The sergeant pushed the last pallet of food toward the rest of the Gears and ran to Naruto's side.

"You need help for this one, kid. You're barely standing." Sam tried to reason with him, but Naruto just smiled, showing a row of bloody teeth. He always found it humorous that they didn't know exactly how old he was. He pushed Sam away feebly, already turning back to the chopper.

"You're a father now, Sam. You have to think about that." That comment made Samuel pause, and he gritted his teeth in annoyance. It was a dirty trick, reminding him of his wife's pregnancy, but it worked. He ran back toward the supplies, shouting orders to move them into the fort as fast as possible.

Naruto reached the cockpit, and finally realized why the pilot couldn't escape. The explosion had thrown a huge piece of shrapnel into the locking mechanism, bending the entire frame of the door around the handle and making it impossible for the young woman on the other side of the glass to escape. As he caught his breath, he got a good look of the pilot. She was young, maybe twenty five at the oldest, and her helmet was off. Her pretty brown hair was held back in a simple ponytail, her green eyes wide and pleading. Freckles dotted their way across pale skin, and her pleading expression showed a set of dazzling white teeth. In Naruto's mind, she was quite striking, a fact that he might have appreciated more were it not for the circumstances she was in. Naruto made a shooing motion with one hand, indicating she step back. He planted his feet so he would have good leverage before channeling chakra to his fist, just as Tsunade and Sakura had done in his youth. He thrust his arm forward, releasing the energy just as it came in contact with the lock, and punched right through it. Without the protective gloves that Sakura always wore, the metal mangled his hand, causing a sharp and steady pain to rise from his mutilated knuckles. He winced at the pain, but ignored it as he tore open the door, and the pilot tumbled out.

Naruto first noticed her nametag, Walkins, and then he saw blood staining the side of her left leg, which she held gingerly off the deck. Some of the shrapnel must have penetrated the cockpit itself as well. He cursed inwardly before he held out his good hand.

"This chopper's done, let's get out of here." He said with a cough, though his voice was returning gradually. She took his hand and threw her arm over his shoulder, hobbling with him as they hurried down the cargo ramp. Smoke had begun to hover in the air, so they were greatly relieved when they escaped the confines of the Corva in favor of open air. Naruto kept going though, certain of the imminent explosion. Walkins was too busy trying to hug him.

"Thank you, oh thanks so much! I was a goner in there!" She said gratefully, though Naruto shook his head. His steps quickened as the last of his chest injuries healed, and he grabbed her forcefully. With too little time to ask politely, he picked the startled pilot up bridal style and jumped as far as he could, just as the vapors within the gas tanks of the chopper ignited. A wall of force and heat slammed into him in midair, sending him farther than he had intended. Sam and the others looked up in time to watch his smoking body sail over them, before the shrapnel followed and they were forced to duck. Naruto curled his body around the pilot's as the ground approached, and his head was the first to hit. A terrible crack echoed through the aftermath of the explosion, and Sam came sprinting up to where the two had landed. He found them lying on the ground, Wilkins worriedly shaking the blonde in an attempt to wake him.

"Stop stop stop! Don't move him!" He said quickly, waving his arms to get her attention. Wilkins stopped; her eyes fearful as she backed off from Naruto's still form slightly. Medical first aid obviously wasn't her strong suit. Sam knelt down next to Naruto and put his ear to the blonde's mouth, and heard the faint sound of breathing. He was still alive.

Sam chuckled and backed off with his finger to his ear. "Lieutenant, we need a medevac for our new friend down here. He pulled the pilot out, and now he's got quite a concussion." The mic keyed up almost immediately.

_"I just watched him fly across the front yard. Medics are on the way. How are the supplies, sergeant?"_ Leave it to Hoffman to put his garrison before one man. Still, they all knew Naruto was one tough son of a bitch. Sam looked back at the wreckage. The bird was a mess, its rotors contorted and bent among the flames as the frame of the body fell in upon itself. In the light of the fire, however, he could still see four Gears shuffling away with twelve pallets of food and water. He grinned.

"No fatalities, sir. And the supplies are on their way up. What did we do about the shooter?" He knew that precautions had been taken, though it was plain for all to see how that had turned out. There was a pause, and two clicks of the mic came over the fort-wide channel. Hoffman came back on after that.

_"Pad says the guy who fired the rocket is thinking all over the rocks behind him. The Pesangas are combing the rest of the cliffs as we speak. It SHOULD be safe this time." _Everyone could hear the regret behind Hoffman's growl. He blamed himself, at least partly, for allowing the attack to happen.

"Roger that. We'll get the supplies and our two wounded fliers inside. Byrne out." He let his hand drop and knelt beside Wilkins again. She still clung to Naruto with worry, but part of her military bearing had returned. Sam held out a hand to help her up, and she took it. Her eyes softened when she looked back down at her unconscious savior.

"Will he be okay? We flew so far, and he was already hurt to begin with..." The pilot trailed off, and Sam just chuckled.

"You wouldn't believe the trouble this guy's gone through. I think he could take a tank round and live; he's a tough one. Let's get you two inside so Doc Rosa can have a look at you." He threw her arm around his shoulder and waved over two Gears that had already brought their pallets into the fort. They saw Naruto's unconscious form and quickly set about lifting him up, one looping his arms underneath the blonde's while the other grabbed Naruto's legs. Sam and Wilkins both looked down at the shinobi, their emotions polar opposites. Sam looked down on with mild humor, while the pilot saw Naruto through the eyes of an awed disciple. She had never seen his incredible talents, and Sam had only been privy to a few himself. But no matter his special skills, he still couldn't stay out of trouble.

"Seems like every time you come into the fort, you're unconscious." Sam said to the incapacitated shinobi, who predictably did not reply. Together, the four plus one followed the trail of Gears hauling their prizes back into the relative safety of Anvil Gate, the burning carcass of the Corva behind them.

Hoffman had mixed feelings about his slightly less-than-fresh sandwich he chewed through, the bread so moistened by the water he had dunked it in that very few crumbs survived to scatter across his desk. And upon that desk, he had amended the caloric regimen for the civilian populace. With the supplies brought in by the Corva, he had upped each citizen's caloric intake by five hundred calories a day, and nearly doubled the water ration. The food was obvious, but his decision on the water came from an offer by Naruto, delirious though he had been.

An hour prior, Hoffman had dropped by the medical bay to personally thank Naruto and Wilkins for risking their lives as they had. Naruto had been upright when he had arrived, and thoroughly oblivious to the enamored gaze he was receiving from the Corva pilot.

If Hoffman had been partial to literature, he'd have called it a schoolgirl crush. Second Lieutenant Taylor Wilkins was a supply pilot; she'd never had to fight someone for dominance in close quarters or look her attacker in the eye as she took his life. Her ignorance to the hardship of war was almost precious, though now it seemed as if she would jump Naruto's bones now that she knew what he had done. In that regard, Hoffman could only wish him the best.

Naruto had offered, in layman's terms, a solution to the water problem now that he was sure no more water was coming. At first, Victor had thought the blonde was joking, but the determined look in his eyes had nipped that prospect in the bud. Without going into vague details, Naruto had asked for two Gears to follow him north to examine the exact collapse. After he had recovered, of course.

Hoffman had told him he'd think about it, and had left the blonde to fend off his new admirer while Rosa laughed from afar. Now that he had time to think over it, though, his memory of the attack flashed through his head repeatedly, trying to determine _exactly_ what the blonde had done. They'd all seen him jump from the walls of the fort – a feat in and of itself – but he had disappeared behind the chopper right before the explosion. The rocket had obviously connected with the ground instead of the chopper, else they would have been staring at a smoldering wreck. Whatever it had done had obviously hurt him; he had healing wounds on his chest and arms when he had entered the infirmary, though the bleeding that had obviously been present had ceased, a testament to his incredible regenerative abilities.

Regardless of what Naruto had done, he'd earned the garrison more food and water, and had promised more once he was upright again. Hoffman wasn't a religious man, but somehow he knew without the blonde godsend fighting off a somewhat naïve pilot in the medical ward, his garrison would be much worse off. Still, while Naruto had just become invaluable, his miraculous abilities did not steal away all of Hoffman's responsibilities. And now, the lieutenant had a difficult decision to make. Did he trust Naruto and expand the number of resources allowed to the civilian populace? Or did he play this close to the chest and wait to see if Naruto was good for his word?

_The guy DID take a rocket for our supplies, though whether it was for the pilot inside or the food doesn't matter. He's been honest so far; I guess I can trust him here._ If Hoffman was wrong, he'd be passing out a quantity of rations that would hasten the end of their supplies despite the Corva's delivery. And with the thief or thieves still on the loose, they stood on the brink of starvation already. Hoffman rubbed his bald head as the idea rattled around his skull. He'd already allowed Naruto access to all but the most secure of areas within the fort, though it wasn't a matter of trust so much as it was a moot point to try to contain him. Every lock he'd pick and every wall he'd climb. He'd become so popular that there were even rumors of other abilities. Civilians and Gears alike claimed he could multiply himself, others said that he could scale walls simply by running up them. Most of these rumors Hoffman had dismissed entirely. He could assume increased stamina and ability simply from Naruto's vitals, but some of it was just hogwash; uncredited nonsense derived from mystery and paranoia.

Victor rubbed his temples in a vain attempt to fight off his oncoming headache. All normal medications handy for dispelling headaches had been seized as emergency medical supplies. Even the mild painkillers would come in handy in case of an attack, but the unfortunate side effect left Hoffman with an irritating migraine. He was about to dial the intercom for his adjutant, a squirrel of a man that was sharp as a tack, when he nearly knocked over a cup steaming hot tea that had suddenly appeared on his desk. His fingers brushed the foreign dish and he jerked back in surprise, only to see Naruto leaning up against the wall, arms crossed and gazing out the window. The small cup clinked from the action, and Naruto looked over with a grin.

"Drink it while it's hot: the heat blocks the taste." He said, gesturing toward the cup. Hoffman returned his glare to the mysterious beverage. It was transparent, a deep green color with several trails of steam curling up from the surface in a simple white cup. He picked of the small drink using his thumb and forefinger, feeling the warmth seep through the porcelain and into his fingers. He looked at Naruto again.

"For some reason, I'm half hoping this is poisoned." He groused, earning a chuckle from the blonde man. With one last grimace, he knocked back the small drink in one go, eyes watering at the temperature. He didn't actually expect it to be poisoned, but neither did he expect the calming warmth that flooded him almost immediately. Naruto had been correct; the heat of the drink had blocked all taste, but he could feel a warmth in his belly, and his migraine eased to a manageable throb almost immediately. Hoffman didn't know where Naruto had gotten the ingredients, and frankly he didn't care. It was miracle tea as far as he was concerned.

"I'll have to get the recipe from you." Hoffman said with a smirk, setting the empty saucer down next to a pile of inventory reports. Naruto shook his head and kicked off from the wall, pacing the office more out of boredom than anything.

"The herbs are not from around here. I brought them with me, along with half a million other things." He reached down and grabbed the cup, slipping it into his coat quicker than Hoffman could blink. The lieutenant just rolled his eyes and staved off the obvious question of where he hid it all; would the answer really matter?

"Alright, mister magician, how can you guarantee that you can get our water back?" Victor asked, not one to beat around the bush. He had to be sure that Naruto would go through with his promise. Naruto shrugged; an apathetic look on his face.

"I can't guarantee anything until I see the blockage. I've seen siege tactics like this before: they took away the one constant you couldn't plan for, and now you're suffering for it. If they simply collapsed rock onto it, I can remove it in a matter of minutes. If they set up protection, it may take longer. I need some of your guys to go with me so they can act as intelligence." He walked back over to the window, his hands jammed into his coat pockets. "I can infer the purpose of a lot of things, but this is still a strange land to me. I'll need someone seasoned enough to recognize equipment so as to avoid any surprises." Hoffman crossed his arms and spun his chair around to face the blonde. With his headache soothed away by the tea, he could stand a little wordplay.

"You keep saying that you are unfamiliar with this region, yet I can't think of any place nearby with people such as yourself," Victor said, prompting Naruto to turn around. "You've got outstanding anatomy, you're lightning fast, and you bounce back from injuries that would kill any normal Gear. Where are you from?" He didn't want it to sound like an interrogation, but there wasn't really a different way to ask the question.

Naruto sighed heavily; he'd put off this topic for some time, but Hoffman was stubborn and sharp. He pulled his experimental kunai from his coat and twirled it absentmindedly around the forefinger of his right hand, the left running through his unruly blonde hair.

"I keep saying I don't know how I got here, but maybe I should be clear. I have _no idea_ where we are relative to my home. I could have crossed dimensions, gone backward or forward in time... hell, I could have even traveled to a different planet." He tossed the kunai into the air and held his pocket open, allowing the knife to slide in smoothly and stop when it hit the reinforced fibers.

"So, you don't even know how to get back home, do you?" Hoffman seemed a little disappointed at that, though whether it was out of pity for Naruto or the loss of potential allies, he wasn't sure. Noticing Hoffman's look, Naruto waved him off.

"To be honest, going back isn't very high on my priority list. I just sat around and moped back home, all my friends... moved on. There's nothing for me back there." He turned to hide his face as the small lie left his lips. It technically was true, if death counted as moving on. The lieutenant was sharp, and he knew when boundaries weren't to be crossed.

"Well, if you think you're up to the task of breaking this siege, I'll send Sam and Pad with you; they're the closest to what you're looking for without digging up a few graves." Hoffman winced at the dark joke. "Not that the dead could help us now." He stood and walked over to the window beside Naruto as the two gazed out over the fort. The perimeter walls prevented a wide view of the surrounding area, but they could see most of the village from their vantage point.

Below them, people went about their daily lives, scraping by with what little normalcy they could hold on to in this time of strife. Their faces were haggard and sunken in, their bodies beginning to be eroded by hunger, disease, and a faint hopelessness. Shoulders were slumped and sobs could be heard here and there, yet there were still a few more resilient citizens carrying on with determined glares. Even with the revised rations, people would still be dying of malnutrition given time.

"I've got food, gasoline, and ammunition by the crate. I can issue those supplies with little difficulty." Hoffman looked over at Naruto, whose gaze remained fixed on the people carving out their existences below. "But I need you to bring the water. Because if you get that water going, we'll start seeing some hope too." He frowned deeply. "I've never been good at inspiring hope."

Naruto patted him on the back, startling the lieutenant from the sudden contact. "I guess it's a good thing I'm here then; I practically radiate the stuff." His grin collapsed into a confident stare that he leveled at Hoffman, looking the bald man right in the eyes. "I'll get this done, Vic. No worries."

For some reason, Hoffman believed him. He wasn't normally one for the whole inspirational folly. Every motivational speaker had a moment of somber reality, every politician a question they wouldn't answer. Yet as he looked Naruto in the eye, he couldn't help but fall in line. And that scared him. No matter how much he hated to distrust the blonde man heading for the door, that little pessimist in the back of his head told him that Naruto was still an outsider. He had bled for them, nearly died to save people he had known for only days, and yet Hoffman couldn't trust him. It sickened him to feel that way, but the responsibility of everyone within the fort prevented him from giving Naruto the benefit of the doubt. _If he succeeds – that's when I'll trust him. What would Margaret say about him? She's better at this than I am._ Not wanting to let the blonde have the last word, Hoffman called out.

"Naruto." Said shinobi stopped in the doorway, looking over his shoulder at the commander of Anvil Gate. "Bring my boys back. Sheraya would kill you if Sam got hurt." Naruto grinned and shook his head, and then he was gone.

"You know, if I _wanted_ a suicide mission, I'd just volunteer to go with the Pesangas." Sam said dryly, gazing down at the gorge that followed Anvegad's river before it went underground. "We'd sneak around, they'd hear my clunky ass, then BLAM BLAM, game over." Pad rolled his eyes, and Naruto just smirked.

"Good thing this isn't a suicide mission then. I mean, there's only sixty three of them... wait, make that sixty four. Short bastard near the cave entrance." Naruto said as he pointed. When they'd arrived at the site of the explosion, they had expected a measure of resistance to ensure the fort's supply of water remained cut off. What they had not expected was that the UIR would commit so many men, as well as three armored vehicles, to the protection of their asset denial.

The three men sat up on the high ridge directly above the entrance to the underground river, on the south side of a large gorge. The water level was obviously higher than normal, though it still would only come up to Naruto's chest. To their left, on a heightened flat area, two APCs sat with their engines off and their drivers conversing quietly. Farther up the west side was a tool shed made almost entirely of sheet metal. A good bit of foot traffic meandered around it, though that would surely change once the fight started. To their twelve o' clock, which was also north, a large boulder sat on a sandbar fifty yards past the encamped Indies. The soldiers had erected temporary holdings in the dry portions of the sandbar and along the shores, mainly tons of sandbags with a few tents here and there. To the east, a rocky outcropping cast shade over the entire area, a good vantage point for inconspicuous fire. Below it and several hundred feet south, the third APC sat cold as well, two legs sticking out from underneath the chassis signifying that it was under maintenance The Indies were obviously here just to sit on the cave.

The armored vehicles were long, broad carriers, each with six wheels and thick armor. A fifty-five millimeter cannon rested towards the fronts of the vehicles, a major point of concern for Naruto and his two cohorts. The infantry were also equipped with a variety of weaponry, obviously ready to combat any retaliation from Hoffman's forces. Pity they couldn't predict Naruto's involvement within a thousand years.

"I can get one of those APCs, maybe even two if I timed it right," Naruto said with a frown. "But I would need a distraction to get them all at the same time without alerting everyone else down there." He didn't want to mention the fact that he could probably cause said distraction, but he knew that Sam and Pad, as good as they were, reported to Hoffman. Victor was a good, honorable man, but enough witnesses would force him to spew everything he knew about Naruto to some men in white coats. He couldn't take that risk. The only thing confirmed about Naruto's abilities was his strength and speed. Everything else was impossible to prove.

"I can slot the drivers easy. The two blokes next to that high one," Pad indicated the two masked men standing next to an APC that was up on a heightened ridge, capable of getting level with their current location, "are easy prey. We could even sneak up on them without alerting the rest. And they have the expertise with the vehicles."

"Yeah," Sam chimed in. "Without them, two of the APCs wouldn't even be able to start. And it would only take one of us to do it." He hefted a Gutpuncher grenade rifle, its hardened tips perfect for ripping into thick plating from medium range. As opposed to a rocket launcher, the grenades also had the added perk of being near smokeless, the entire force behind the shot being a charge. It was the sequential detonations that tore through armor, not velocity. This was the unfortunately the reason why they had to be within fifty meters of whatever they targeted.

"If I can get near the edge of the overhang, I should be able to get good firing positions on the APCs. I only brought a few armor piercing rounds, though. The rest are high explosive for infantry." Sam said with a frown. Naruto, however, was grinning. A plan had formed in his mind. They – or at least, _Hoffman_ – knew that he had traveled space and/or time. So his Hirashin jutsu wasn't entirely out of the picture. At the very least, he could use it once or twice without too much notice.

"I can escort Sam to the ridge, and then take down those drivers," Naruto said, then looked to Pad. "Where's the best vantage point for you to provide overwatch?" As he asked this, Naruto's eyes fell to Padrick's Longshot sniper rifle. The South Islander examined the riverbed below them, and he grinned when his eyes fell on the small tin shack. It was obviously a tool shed of some sort, but it had been re-purposed to provide shade for the UIR troops. It was also nearly surrounded by low shrubbery. The men walking around it were a slight problem.

"That little shed over there has a nice vantage point, and propping the door open would make hiding my silhouette easy enough. There's only one or two Indies there as well." More like four or five, but Pad was an optimist.

"You think you can handle them?" Naruto didn't want to sound overbearing, but one on two was never good odds. Pad scrunched up his nose, though the glint in his eye indicated that the scowl was insincere.

"A knife between the ribs solves a lot of problems, blondie. Do you doubt me now, after I slotted the bastard that hit the chopper?"

"That was with a rifle, not a blade." Sam pointed out in a deadpan voice. Pad shook his head.

"Just shut your gobs and take your positions. What will the signal be?" The tattooed man seemed anxious to be done with the conversation. Naruto didn't really blame him in that respect. Even he was eager to see the deed done.

"Once you two are in position, I'll take down the drivers." Naruto said as he twirled one of his Hirashin kunai around his index finger. "Once that is taken care of, I'll try to remove as many of them as I can without raising the alarm, but once I've cleared a few out you two can pick your targets." Sam and Pad both nodded; it was a sound plan, if a bit simple. The two Gears exchanged grim looks, but turned and went their separate ways without another word. Sam went left, skirting the thin brush along the high ground as he tried to reach a decent spot for his Gutpuncher to be effective. Pad dropped down to a lower elevation, and began treading a shadowed path that led behind his targeted shack.

Despite their lack of shinobi training, Naruto was surprised to see that the two men moved quite stealthily, both disappearing from sight and remaining very quiet. Sam seamlessly blended in with what little brush and cover he could utilize. Padrick's odd Islander features, from his pale skin, red hair, and blue facial tattoos did nothing to ruin his sneaky advance, even going so far as to brush past an Indie soldier like a ghost, inches separating the two men for a split second before Padrick disappeared behind the shack.

A brief moment of calm fell over Naruto as he watched the two very different men ply their trade. Despite his reservations about their superiors, he knew that the two were good men, both on and off the battlefield. The weeks he had spent with the two newlywed Byrnes told him that much, and Padrick was just another smiling comrade, always happy to help. He could see that it was not malice that drove the men, but rather a determination to protect their comrades and the civilians of Anvegad. Had it been any other case, Naruto would have let the whole place burn.

A flick of his wrist sent his Hirashin kunai into the silt of the riverbed, behind the two large APCs and out of sight. The soft dirt absorbed what little sound the action generated, leaving the UIR forces blissfully unaware of their impending doom. With a muted flash of light, he was gone, appearing right next to his kunai an instant later. He drew an ordinary kunai and held it in a reverse grip, leaving the Hirashin version behind should he need an escape later on.

The shinobi crept forward slowly, channeling chakra to the bottoms of his feet to avoid making noise. He silently made his way around the first APC, noting with some relief that both were inert; engines cold and off. He continued around until he finally found the two technicians, since drivers seemed too crass a term. They wore black jumpsuits over what looked like a buttoned uniform, a series of numbers running across their left shoulders. They also wore thick gray helmets with goggles, which were slid up on top of the helmets since there was no perceived danger. The two men talked animatedly for some time, their sharp and flowing language a mystery to Naruto. He made his way behind them in shadow, until he could reach out and touch the man on the right. And touch him he did.

Before the man knew what was happening, Naruto's hands had gripped his chin and the back of his head. With a sickening series of pops, the blonde had turned his head completely around, falling forward while his look of surprise stared into the sky. His partner barely had time to gasp in horror before a kunai dug into his throat and tore its way sideways, silencing him as it opened his trachea to the world in a squelch and spray of blood. A wheezing choke escaped his lips as he fell to his knees, hands already red as they clutched his neck in a vain attempt to stem the bleeding. The look of total horror on his face slackened, and the light soon died from his eyes as he slumped to the side, joining his fellow driver and friend in oblivion.

Naruto had torn away the lives of two men in as many seconds, and that old thrill threatened to creep back into his mind. The sharp, coppery smell of blood and the adrenaline of the kill sent such a rush through him, he felt invincible. He quelled the intoxicating feeling as he slid underneath each APC, explosive notes being slapped to the undersides. He timed them for thirty seconds, giving him enough of a chance to slip out from underneath and down the hill, coming to a rest in the riverbed near the block. The water was cool, and came up to his neck in height, an obvious circumstance brought about by damming up the river at the mouth of the underground cave system. He slid under the water easily and anchored himself to the bottom with chakra as he scrambled toward the bulk of the forces, near the entrance of the tributary that fed Anvegad's underground river. Just when he reached a shallow place near the cave, a muffled explosion above him started the ambush.

Twin columns of fire accompanied the explosions as the rounds within the APCs' magazines added to the eruptions, sending armor plating and every other piece of shrapnel and vehicle power into the air. Sam watched in amazement as the UIR forces scrambled like ants for their weaponry, all trying to find cover despite the fact that they knew not where the attack was coming from. The men near Pad's shack bolted to the riverbed, where walls of sandbags would protect them better than the crappy shack. Most chose to hide from the two burning wrecks that used to be personnel carriers, leaving their backs open to Sam and his Gutpuncher. He grinned, knowing that Naruto had expected as much, and loaded a high explosive (HE) round into his grenade launcher. He took aim carefully, the velocity of the HE rounds much lower than the armor piercing (AP) rounds he also had. He aimed above the men closest to Pad's vantage point, three unfortunate soldiers clutching carbines while taking cover behind a four foot tall sandbag emplacement. They still had partial cover, so Sam tried to put the grenade behind them. He pulled the trigger and sent the explosive on its way with a hollow thump.

Almost two whole seconds passed before the grenade landed just behind the middle soldier, detonating with another loud blast and tearing the Indies to pieces. Dirt, cloth, and human bodies flew into the air, and what discipline that had existed amongst the other soldiers broke. Chaos reigned as the UIR forces struggled to regroup, displacing from cover and trying to find better protection, while their commanders barked orders in vain. Sam's face split into a full blown grin as he loaded and fired two more HE rounds. The explosions sent three more Indies to meet their maker, and added to the carnage.

Across the way, Sam's grenades provided excellent cover for Pad's Longshot, the explosions drowning out the sound of his rifle. The South Islander targeted men close to the blasts in an effort to prevent detection. The longer they went without realizing there was a sniper, the more of them he could drop. He put down two more after Sam's third grenade, and the Indies finally began to realize that there was more than one attacker. A single man managed to corral his troops into a decent amount of cover, his beret signifying that he was a tad more important than the others, and in a position of command.

"Can't have that, can we?" Pad whispered rhetorically, and took careful aim. The Indie commander had a bristle of short hair and a full beard, his black beret decorated with some unknown symbol as he barked orders. He was in the middle of calling more men when Padrick's Longshot put a round into the base of his neck. It tore right on through, tearing a decent hole into his respiratory system and cutting off whatever he had to say as the wind literally left him in the dirt, his body collapsing to the ground in a heap. His troops all turned on instinct toward Pad's position, but he was well hidden. They couldn't spot him yet. Another HE round from Sam's Gutpuncher divided their attention, as well as a few of the men, allowing Pad to continue his fire support.

Not one to be left out of this symphony of chaos, Naruto vaulted over the sandbag defenses erected earlier, driving his heels into the chin of an unfortunate man that had seen him coming. The Indie wobbled drunkenly before collapsing, his Markza DMR falling from his limp grip. Naruto scooped up the weapon and attached it to his back with its accompanying sling. He pilfered the long rounds of ammunition and their magazines from the unconscious man as the firefight raged, if Pad and Sam's efforts to keep the UIR forces panicked and confused could be deemed such. He was about to leap into the melee when he got a very familiar feeling.

A cold shiver ran down his spine, the hairs on his neck standing up as he sensed a foreign danger. The shouts and screams of the Indies faded to mere echoes, the blasts from Sam's grenades became pops. With his years of experience, Naruto's hearing pierced the veil of battle to hear the heavy clanking of a turret rotating. He turned to look at the third APC, just as its main gun took aim at Pad's sheet metal hideout. Its wheels didn't move, but obviously the gun was perfectly fine.

"Oh shit!" He cursed; a Hirashin kunai already in the air as he heard the gunner shoved a round into the chamber. Everything else snapped back into focus as he let the kunai fly, the men around him dying and screaming in their barking languages as he flew from the riverbed. He disappeared in his signature flash of light, reappearing next to Pad in the hut. The sudden change from bright sunlight to near darkness stunned him for a split second, but not enough for him to stop. He grasped Pad's shoulder, or what he thought was his shoulder, and locked on to the knife that had put him behind the other APCs.

"What in the bloody hell do you-" Was all he heard before he tore himself and Pad away from the shed. When he reappeared behind the two burning wrecks, he heard two things: a loud BANG as the APC fired its gun into the now empty shack, and retching as Padrick lost his lunch all over the ground in front of him. Naruto winced in sympathy, noticing a particularly chunky bit that had landed on the South Islander's scope. No matter their discipline, training, or mental fortitude, _everyone_ threw up the first time they went with him through a Hirashin jump. Pad gasped and waited until he was sure he wasn't going to spew any more, before he turned to Naruto with wide eyes.

"What the hell was that?!" He yelled indignantly, wiping his scope off while keeping his eyes on the man in front of him. "First you grab my arse, then BAM, it's the time warp all over again eh?! Warn a man before you pull some shite like that!" He burped and doubled over again, though at this point little remained to be thrown up.

"Look, we can discuss this later." Naruto said impatiently. "Right now, they're probably zeroing in on Sam." He pulled Pad to his feet and grasped him by the shoulders. "I have a plan, but you've got trust me on this one." He kept it vague at best; it involved more Hirashin usage, but he didn't need to bring it up again.

"Yeah yeah, just go pull him out of the fire. We'll discuss your magic tricks later." Pad said with another, smaller belch as he propped up his Longshot on the destroyed frame of one of the first APCs. Naruto nodded and took off up the hill, adhering to the side with chakra. When he reached the top, he saw now how swiftly the fight had turned.

With only one source of fire on them now, the Indies had figured out Sam's location quickly, and what had been a mass of confused soldiers had turned into a hardened defensive wall. The APC in the back barked again, sending a large shell over Sam's head as he hunkered down beneath the curve of the hill. The sergeant ducked instinctively as the round sailed over, before catching sight of Naruto's admittedly outlandish form. He waved once, but that single action earned him an intensified volume of fire from the Indies. Naruto returned the wave and then tossed the kunai below Sam. If the Gear was surprised to see Naruto just randomly throw a knife at him, he was absolutely baffled when Naruto suddenly appeared in a dull flash of yellow in time to catch said knife.

"I don't even want to know." He said in a deadpan voice. Naruto smiled sheepishly, then unslung the Markza from his back and tossed it to Sam.

"Trade ya." The Gutpuncher and its accompanying rounds were pretty much thrown into his hands as Sam hurried to employ his new precision weapon. Naruto left the spare ammunition on the slope as Sam began firing down below, Pad's fire a second later again confusing the surviving Indies.

With their attention divided between the blocked riverbed, Pad's destroyed APCs, and Sam's hilltop, Naruto had plenty of room to sprint downhill and across the river before someone took notice. The pair of soldiers that did see his battle coat fluttering in the wind sprinted after him, intent on capturing him or some other impossible venture. He slid around a boulder without breaking stride, a clear line of sight on the APC as it turned to fire on Padrick's position. Now that he had an avenue of approach, Naruto turned to face his pursuers as they came splashing around the boulder. Just as the first was about to come into view, he leaped high into the air and out of direct sight. The lead man passed right under him, but the second wasn't so lucky. Naruto came down onto him like a ton of bricks, forcing him to the ground and crushing the air from his lungs. A quick follow-up stab from a kunai rendered that threat silent just as the front man turned around, his submachine gun coming up to bear. Moving quickly, Naruto hit the man in the sternum with a chakra-enhanced palm thrust, the force of the blow turning his ribcage and spine into the world's dullest blender as his insides were pulverized beyond recognition. The man gave one sharp cry and fell back before lying still, silent as the grave.

Naruto sighed and took off after the APC once more, loading the AP round into the Gutpuncher as he sprinted. He covered the ground in three seconds, coming up within twenty feet of the vehicle. He was close enough to hear the man (or men) moving about within. He brought the Gutpuncher up to his shoulder and aimed toward the front, where the gun working and crew were likely to be. Once he was sure he'd at least hit something, he pulled the trigger.

A hollow _poof_ came from the grenade rifle just before the armor dented from the high-density tip slamming into it, making a horrible, if short lived screeching sound. Naruto cursed and loaded the second round as the first dropped to the ground, its charge undetonated. By the time he had the rifle up again, the APC's main gun began rotating around to face him. Naruto cursed and fired again.

This time, the round hit the APC and punched right through its thick plating, tearing a hole the size of a grapefruit in the armor. A single second passed as the crew inside processed what happened, before the entire APC belched fire as the grenade exploded inside. Naruto pumped his fist in success and stashed the Gutpuncher inside his coat as a few bullets pinged off the APC that were meant for him. He doubled back toward the boulder, leaving the burning APC behind as he flanked around again.

When he reached the boulder, he peeked around to see how the battle was going for Pad and Sam. It appeared that a few Indies had now taken up Sam's position and were firing down on the APC wrecks, where he could see both Gears firing back defiantly. Somehow the sergeant had crossed the entire field to get to Pad's hiding place. He cursed and ran through his options.

A clone attack wasn't out of the question, since they wouldn't expect ten guys to burst from one person's hiding spot. It would also give him cover to get back to Sam and Pad. But why waste an opportunity just to get stuck in the same predicament the other two were in? Shaking his head, Naruto put his fingers into that familiar cross-shaped seal.

Ten puffs of smoke heralded the creation of his shadow clones, and they all exchanged eager grins as he pulled out a kunai.

"Alright guys, you know the drill; back of the line forward, keep them off balance, and don't stop. GO!" He ended it by pulling two smoke bombs from his coat, tossing them over the boulder and into the cluster of Indies. The nonlethal grenades detonated with a bang, send twin clouds of thick, white smoke everywhere and obscuring the vision of the UIR soldiers. Naruto and his clones moved in as the men coughed and hacked within the smoke, which was so thick one couldn't see one's hand in front of one's face. The shinobi and clones used this to their advantage, taking a leaf out of Zabuza's book and striking silently. Each man was stabbed or cut with the utmost secrecy, no sound escaping him or his attacker as one by one, the Indie forces were purged within the cloud.

A mere thirty seconds had passed before the smoke dispersed, but the damage had been done in twenty. Every Indie in the riverbed had been slain, with only the few men on the hill left alive. A few thrown kunai dispatched them quickly, and Naruto's clones dispelled with the smoke. When Pad and Sam peeked out, Naruto was the only one standing. As the memories of his clones flooded his mind, something moved within his consciousness. A throbbing pain in his head forced Naruto to wince, and he could hear a voice, a memory from long ago.

_'Get Ino away from him, she's the only one who can do the jutsu!"_ Sakura's voice. Naruto frowned as he tried to recall more of the memory, but the pain magnified as he did so. He gasped in pain and forced himself to calm down. As his memories settled, the pain lessened gradually until it disappeared. _The hell was that about?_ He thought to himself. Again, he tried to recall the memory, but nothing new came to him. Disturbed by the chain of events, Naruto didn't notice Pad and Sam until the later spoke up.

"That was unbelievable, Naruto! You took out a platoon of men and an APC all by yourself!" The man said with a grin. Pad held up the Markza along with his own Longshot.

"Yeah, and this little toy right here may convince me to forgive that little arse grab you did earlier." He said with a smirk, though Naruto did not return it. He ignored his troubled thoughts, too private to share with the two Gears, and instead focused on the pile of rubble that sat in the waist-high water before them.

"So... how to bring water to the needy?" He mused aloud. The other two looked at each other and shrugged, but then a sound caught his attention. Off to the side, toward the burning yet intact APC, he could hear faint popping noises. It was roughly seventy five meters away, and yet it troubled him. Sam, however, recognized the sound immediately.

"Ah, shit!" He said roughly, looking around for cover. "The rounds are cooking off inside! If they hit the fuel-" He had no time to finish as the world burst into flames, the vapors of the fuel tank within the vehicle igniting into an inferno that burned Naruto even at the distance he was. A great explosion shattered his ears, and a huge flash of light blinded him and Sam as the two shielded their eyes. So stunned was he from the explosion that he didn't see that nearly the entire turret – with the exception of the barrel - had blown clear of the wreckage and came hurtling towards him.

Naruto looked up just in time to count the rivets on the warped vehicle compartment before the trunk-sized vehicle compartment slammed into him, sending Naruto into the rocks and the air from his lungs. He bounced from the wall and into the water, sinking with the heavy turret mount on top of him. To his surprise, he didn't sink the mere three feet he was expecting. Trapped underneath the warped metal, Naruto sank at least ten or twelve feet, the pressure building in his ears as he sank. He gritted his teeth in irritation.

The rocks hadn't been the blockage – they had originally been an overhang. He mentally berated himself even as his lungs began to burn for the air he'd had just seconds earlier, and he looked around in earnest. He tried to shift the turret off of him, but with only rock beneath him and behind him he couldn't get the leverage. He was too deep for Padrick and Sam to help, so that left only one option. Naruto looked behind him at the true blockage: a giant boulder with smaller rocks surrounding it. He channeled into his hand, forming his father's technique even as the water began to swirl around it. A condensed ball of swirling chakra appeared above his hand, and he stretched backwards for the push.

They had come to clear the way for the water, and that was exactly what he was going to do. As his vision began to darken around the edges, Naruto slammed the Rasengan into the boulder, cracking it and shattering the massive rock almost instantly. When it gave, so too did the rest of the barricade.

Naruto fell with the water, his metal trap falling to the wayside instead of being pulled in. The shinobi climbed upward as the water rushed past him, gasping loudly as he broke the surface of the water. He gulped the air greedily, couching and choking as his oxygen-deprived body struggled for air. Suddenly drained of energy, it was all Naruto could do to pull himself onto the small, wet walkway that had been revealed once the water level had gone down. He pulled his sopping wet body from the current and rolled onto his back, propping himself with his elbows. Naruto continued to pant heavily, but this time with a satisfied smile. The blonde sat there and grinned as the water rushed on to Anvegad, where Sheraya and the rest awaited its blessed return.

**So... that took longer than expected. Sorry about the first version's navigational issues. I was so impatient that I forgot to smooth things over a bit.**


	4. Crossing the Line

If the sudden availability of water had been music, it would have been playing throughout Anvegad like a sold out rock concert. As the reservoir filled and the ancient aqueducts ran the precious resource throughout the fort, morale lifted with the current. People were no longer slinking about from task to task; there was a palpable cheer in the air, with neighbors shaking hands and exchanging high fives.

And Victor Hoffman looked down on it all with a grim frown.

Normally, he'd be down there clicking his heels with the rest of them. But reports from logistics in the storerooms had yielded bad news at the height of the triumph brought on by Naruto, Pad and Samuel.

_Another break in. This time, three days rations for a Gear gone. That's a week for a civilian._ The bald commander growled under his breath and examined the file before him. With several mortars from both commandos and the Indie incursions raining down time and again, there were bound to be collapsed walls and fragile structures. Even though his Gears were all sharp eyes, they couldn't keep every building secure when walls started coming down.

CIC had already sent a message to Alderman Casani, though Hoffman felt that his presence was only a courtesy at best. Casani was the head of the civilian government of Anvegad, a glorified mayor when it all boiled down to it. And now, he had to set an example.

The door slammed open as Casani stormed in. His hair had receded from the top of his head and encircled it like an old time friar, a huge bald spot surrounded by a circle of hair and sideburns. The alderman had a strained look on his face, as if Hoffman had told an offensive joke that wasn't very funny.

"You caught him, then?" He asked with a frown. Hoffman nodded, suspecting a conflict right from the beginning. Casani winced as he mulled over the fact that someone had been stealing food, and it gave Hoffman a window for explanation.

"I've got three suspects in custody. We're searching their homes right now. I'm heading down to interrogate them." He grabbed his softcap and strode to the door, Casani falling in step just behind him.

"Once you figure out who stole the rations, then what? You'll execute someone for starving?" The alderman sounded like he was straddling the line between incredulous and stupefied. Hoffman decided to push him to the incredulous side.

"You know as well as I do that the Gears guarding this fort need every calorie they can get. Stealing from them puts EVERYONE in danger." Hoffman didn't even turn to say it; he just kept stomping toward the lower dungeon area with the mouse of a Kashkuri mayor behind him.

"These people don't have much left! Can you blame them for stealing food? Many of them are dying from dysentery, extreme weight loss, even cholera in some sections. Do you really want to add execution to the list?!" Casani seemed hysterical now, and in any other situation Hoffman would have given him credit for his persistence. However, this was a special case.

The lieutenant stopped at an iron door, three floors down from his office. He gave Casani a level stare, indecisive about whether or not he should snarl.

"What I want to do was taken out of the equation the second those rations left the storehouse." He said, daring Casani to interrupt. "The ration protocols are the best anyone's going to get, and reducing the amount of food available, for whatever reason, screws over everyone else." The door squealed open on rusty hinges before Casani could reply. The two walked in quickly, and found two Gears standing over a seated man, his hands cuffed and his head down. Casani paused as he took in the man's features: grizzled, short brown hair; sideburns and full beard with gaunt cheekbones. The man's eyes were closed, as if he had already accepted the inevitable. As Hoffman looked down on him, he wondered if the man really had.

"Oh, Geril." Casani said with a bleak grimace. The man finally looked up, gaunt eyes empty and devoid of purpose. Yes, he knew his death was at hand.

"I had to do it. I won't apologize for it." He said in a raspy voice. Hoffman closed his eyes and sighed heavily; this was why he had wanted to stay enlisted. He had killed men, before, dozens of times, but this would be different.

"Victor, stop this!" Casani pleaded from his side. And suddenly, Hoffman's anger boiled up to the surface.

"I'm not calling him a fucking Indie, Alderman! He stole food from Gears sworn to protect him and everyone else in this fort!" His nostrils flared even as Casani stepped back, yielding immediately.

"I understand why he did it. I sympathize with him. But we all have to make do, and I can't let a crime like this go unpunished." That cold feeling began welling up in Victor's gut; he'd drawn it out long enough. The guy deserved a quick and painless end. Any further delay, and he wouldn't be able to pull the trigger.

"What about his kids?!" Casani was grasping for straws now, and he knew it. "They go from starving to fatherless and starving because of your rules?" Hoffman pulled his sidearm as an answer, and he leveled his gaze to meet Geril Atar's hollow eyes.

"Geril Lativius Atar," Hoffman said in short, clipped tone, "you have been accused of and admitted to an act of injurious theft as defined by the Military Emergency Measures Act. By stealing rations intended for Coalition soldiers, you have impeded their ability to defend the COG and themselves. The penalty for such a crime is death, and in the name of the Chairman of the Coalition of Ordered Governments, I shall now carry out that sentence." In the very rear corner of his mind, Hoffman was disappointed at his last rites. The man deserved so much more. "Have you anything to say before the sentence is carried out?"

Atar looked up and toward Casani, who was pale and stiff as he anticipated the inevitable act. The man's face relaxed and he actually grinned though there was no humor in the expression.

"Watch over my boys for me, will you?" He asked. It was a dirty thing, Hoffman decided. Here he was, about to execute a man who had been looking out for his family, and his last words had been to pass on the duty. Casani swallowed audibly at the implications, but managed a shaky nod. With that said, Atar bowed his head once more and closed his eyes.

Hoffman nodded and moved forward, pressing the muzzle to the back of Geril's head. Straight through the back, and the man wouldn't feel a thing. Humane. It still didn't make Hoffman feel any better.

BLAM!

The sound echoed in the small cell they were in, but it seemed to haunt Hoffman for a spell before dissipating. A foul taste welled up in his mouth as he stared down at Geril Atar's lifeless corpse. Even though he had rationalized it to the very man he'd executed, Victor just couldn't think of a decent reason for what had just happened. A small part of him argued for accepting the losses and letting the man go. But he had a duty to his men, who had played by the rules. Atar hadn't, even if his cause was justified.

_It's just an ugly situation._ Hoffman thought with a sigh. _And it doesn't seem to be getting any better. _He looked over to Casani, but the local politician was gone. In fact, Hoffman could hear the faint sounds of retching in the hallway. The scene had obviously gotten to him.

Hoffman gave Atar one last look before turning and walking out the door, closing it behind him in a pathetic attempt at reverence.

When he turned around to comfort Casani, he found the man on the receiving end of a hard glare from none other than Naruto. The balding man was visible shaking under the scrutiny of Naruto's gaze, and the blonde man's whiskers seemed a bit more defined than usual. If anything, it made him seem primal in his contempt toward the shaking mayor in front of him.

"That man died trying to feed his children, Alderman." Naruto said in a cold voice. Casani said nothing, he just sat there and whimpered as the blonde's eyes bore into his very soul.

"He defied law and man to bring food to his family, and he paid a price. That is a sacrifice, not an execution."

Naruto pointed a single finger to the southern end of the hallway, and far beyond where the UIR forces were camped.

"The men out there will do the same thing Hoffman just did, and they will not stop there. It will be men and women, young and old; anyone here when they storm the fort will either repel them or be exterminated." His hand fell from the south and grasped the alderman's slumped form, pulling him up to stare Casani right in the eye.

"You have to make a choice, Alderman. Either your people survive by following the rules, or you take your chances with the UIR. There is no middle ground." With that, the former Hokage released his simpering captive and turned his eyes to Hoffman, who wore a stubborn bulldog frown.

"I appreciate the PR attempt, but I think blowing a citizen's brains out did enough to scare him." Hoffman said with half a glare. Naruto didn't offer an immediately reply, but rather threw something the size of a thrashball onto the filthy grey-tiled floor. Hoffman's head blocked the light for a second, and he stooped down to illuminate the object.

It was a human hand, neatly severed at the wrist, and still clutching a radio. It was wrapped in a fingerless glove, with Gorasnayan writing across the back and a single red star. The fresh blood that gushed from the still twitching limb made Hoffman's scalp tighten in a mix of disgust and surprise.

"The rest of this guy and three others are in the morgue." Naruto said with a snarl. "They were creeping around the civilian quarter, planting explosives and mapping the place out. I found them when they were trying to silence Taylor as she tried to sound the alarm." he glanced away for a second at the mention of the Corva pilot, and in another situation Hoffman would have chuckled. Odds were, she had been following him around.

"Have you secured the explosives?" Hoffman asked urgently. A remote detonator wasn't out of the question, and the ones the Indies used had quite a bit of range to them. Naruto nodded.

"The guy this hand belongs to was quite talkative once he realized who he was dealing with. Most of the charges were still in his pack, but I scooped up eight of them in a purely civilian sector." In the dim light, Hoffman could've sworn Naruto's eyes flashed red for a split second. "They've given up on shaking the troops; they're targeting the noncombatants now."

That was bad news. Attacking his Gears was one thing; for better or worse, they knew what they had signed on for. Gutting a civvie whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time... it was dirty and honorless, but it did wonders against morale. It also meant a perimeter breach somewhere.

"Alright, let's get moving." Hoffman growled and stomped forward, brushing past Naruto and the now silent alderman. The blonde followed close behind, leaving Casani with a dead citizen in the cell behind him and a disembodied hand on the floor.

"I hate to ask favors, Naruto, but this new change means one thing; we have to get the civilians out of here." Hoffman knew that would take some effort by more than just the blonde hot on his heels, but Naruto was a lynchpin in anything he was involved in.

"I said I wouldn't fight your wars," Naruto said with a smirk. "But I never said I wouldn't help. I've got a few ideas on how to get them out of here." Victor remained silent, and Naruto took it as a sign to continue.

"Have you received any contact from them? Demands of surrender, or anything like that?" Naruto doubted they had, but to his surprise Hoffman nodded.

"During your little beauty rest after the helicopter fiasco, they called in and offered a trade: the civilians go free if we surrender. I told them to stuff it, so I'm not sure if the offer still stands."

Together, they ascended the final staircase and half walked, half ran to the medical area. As they went, Gears rushed past them as well, all loaded down with full combat gear. Naruto's find had definitely rung some alarms. Hoffman knew it was a bittersweet reaction; it meant that his men were reacting to the situation without needing his counsel, but it was also likely that the Indies knew the jig was up.

"Exactly how dead are these guys?" Hoffman asked. Considering Naruto's talk of parley, a dead team of commandos wouldn't exactly swing in their favor. Mutilated corpses would just exacerbate the situation. Luckily, Naruto saw the question coming.

"Two broken necks, a stab wound to the face, and blood loss. Open caskets all around, with a little doctoring, of course." That was reassuring. The more Hoffman had to bargain with, the better.

"So what's your plan?" Naruto didn't answer as they reached the medical area. Chief Rosa was there, along with a very shaken 2nd Lt. Wilkins. The young pilot's eyes were wide as she relayed the horrid events, and they came in just as she uttered the words, "...-eed to find Mr. Naruto. There were five of..." She trailed off as Hoffman and Naruto walked in, both suddenly very interested in what she had to say. To her credit, she still saluted Hoffman when she saw him, but her attention immediately went to Naruto.

"There was another Indie!" She said hurriedly. "When I was getting dragged off, another one broke off from the group. He's still out there in the civilian quarter." Her breath still came with a few gasps, and suddenly the cut on her cheek and black eye weren't such frivolous injuries. Both of the men reeled, but Naruto reacted faster. He was out the door and building hopping before Hoffman could turn around. Instead of giving chase, he kept his attention on Taylor.

"What did they look like, Lieutenant?" He asked as gently as was physically possible for Victor Hoffman. "Were they commandos, some kind of special forces unit?" Taylor bit her lip and shook her head sadly.

"The first thing I saw was an arm, and that's what they used to cover my eyes, sir. They didn't sound Gorasnayan though. More like they were from Berephus or Ostri."

A long sigh escape Hoffman's pursed lips. While Gorasnaya fielded the most tenacious of the UIR forces, Ostri was home to some of the most cunning Indies to walk the planet. If there was one still on the loose, even with Naruto tracking him down he could still do unspeakable damage.

* * *

The fort's civilian quarter was a compact and elevated section of the town, with several apartments and two-floor flats that the locals had lived in for ages. Therefore, it wasn't difficult for Naruto to find the general area that the operative was in. He decided to go to the alley, where he had first stopped the Indie commandos from silencing Taylor. He reached the area in under a minute, though it was more due to the town's compact design than his speed. He quickly made four clones, one for each cardinal direction, and sent them off to search the area. With that done, he immediately took the quickest route to the Byrne residence, a second floor flat near the market where Sam and Sheraya were currently enjoying Sam's off duty hours.

Naruto focused on the seal he had carved into the area normally hidden by their bathroom door, which was usually kept open unless someone was using the restroom or bathing. Sheraya had been very cross when she'd found it, but he'd bribed her with some ill-gotten ice cream and all had been forgiven.

He disappeared in a flash of yellow light and found himself inside the bathroom, dark and not in use. As stealthy as he was, he wasn't quiet enough to hide the sound of his feet slamming into the floor. Of course, breaking the laws of physics tended to have some minor setbacks.

As he righted himself and slipped into the narrow corridor, Sam emerged from the shared bedroom, a pistol gripped in his hand. When he saw that it was Naruto, a small smile spread across his face, and he let the gun fall to his side immediately.

"It's alright, dear," He said to Sheraya, who Naruto could barely see behind him. "It's just our local ninja coming for a visit." Sheraya's pregnancy had made her swell up quite a bit, and along with a humorous waddle as she moved from place to place, she had also acquired a very short temper.

"Honestly, you'd think you could put a frickin' silencer on it or something?! I was right in the middle of a nap." The expecting mother half snarled, half moaned. Sam's chuckle was a bit strained, as his wife's moods had begun to grate slightly, but it was silenced when Naruto's serious expression didn't change. Considering Naruto was generally the first to crack a joke, a stoic look on his face usually spoke ill.

"Has something happened?" He asked, his normally jovial mood turned professional as if he had simply flicked a switch. Naruto nodded, looking around for any signs of intrusion.

"A bunch of UIR commandos snuck into the town. I got all but one of them, and he's still in the area. I came to make sure he hadn't gotten you two." Sam's face got a little pale, and even Sheraya was brought out of her funk.

"Oh my goodness." She gasped, her eyes traveling between her husband and Naruto. "Was anyone hurt?" Naruto nodded, but he held up a hand in reassurance as her eyes went as wide as dinner plates.

"Wilkins has a few scrapes, but other than that the only ones hurt are the dead guys I put into the morgue." He looked around again. "Are you guys sure you haven't heard anything?"

Sam and Sheraya both shook their heads, but Sam was already grabbing for his gear. He had one arm through his shirt before Naruto's firm grip on his arm stopped him. He looked Naruto dead in the eye, defiance blazing as he pulled against the shinobi's grasp.

"I don't need the rabble that a full on manhunt would stir up." Naruto implored, but Sam jerked his arm from Naruto's grasp.

"I'm not just going to sit here! That guy could be killing people out there!" He began changing again, but this time it was Sheraya's pleading eyes that stopped him.

"Please, Sam." She begged, her eyes firm as she blocked the door. "Normally, I'd be able to handle myself, but it's not just two of us anymore." She reluctantly glanced at her bulging belly, and Samuel's gaze softened instantly. His honor and duty compelled him to search for the intruder, but his responsibility as a husband and father ruled that he should protect his family.

"I've got this covered; just make sure he doesn't get in here." Naruto said, stomping down the stairs. Hurried steps stopped him, however, and he turned to see Sam's gaze burning into him.

"Curb his face for me." The man said with conviction that would make an Uchiha blush. Y'know, if they weren't all DEAD. Naruto nodded solemnly, and then disappeared, focusing on another seal farther away. Sam marched dutifully back to his wife in their bedroom, and then wrapped her up in a protective hug. Even if he couldn't protect his honorary family, he'd be damned if an Indie bastard hurt his wife and child.

When Naruto flashed away, he found himself on top of a tall chimney, a high point near the market district that provided ample view of the area, even if it wasn't necessarily discreet. He stood there motionlessly, his coat still even in the stiff breeze as he examined the area beneath him for the rogue commando. If Naruto had anything to bet, he'd say the man had ditched his clothing for more natural colors, and there was a possibility that he had killed someone and was walking around in their clothes.

_And since they don't have chakra, I can't just sense him out._ He thought with a frustrated growl. As he stood high above the town, a particularly pungent smell of garbage and refuse blew past his sensitive nose, making him crinkle it up and snort to clear the terrible aroma. And then it hit him.

Kiba and the other Inuzuka Clan members were well known for tracking not just because of their nindogs, but their nearly godlike sense of smell. Naruto had picked it up from Kurama's interference with his biology, and had spent a decade mastering it to the point that he could walk around without nose plugs.

The thing about a person's scent is that it is like a fingerprint; it can be similar, but no two people have the same smell. And when people live close together, they have many similarities. But one guy out there was not a local.

Even if the man was wearing the clothes of a native, his base scent wouldn't change; it would take weeks for him to properly hide from Naruto's nose. And so, Naruto took in a deep breath, and surveyed the area around him, closing his eyes to concentrate.

An overwhelming range of scents and aromas assaulted his senses, and at first he struggled to categorize them. Soon enough, experience kicked in and he began to sift through them as if they were papers in a file, searching for the right one, the odor that was out of place.

_Spoiled meat, old leather... sweat, a little bit of blood, gun smoke... there you are._

The scent wafted lazily from the west, and a simple shunshin put him on the ground in a flurry of leaves. Once he was there, the odors became more intense and varied, but he held on to the original scent. The smell of an intruder.

Using speed born from nearly a century of shinobi training, Naruto flew over the streets, adhering to walls and rooftops with his chakra as he went. The odor grew stronger as he got closer, flying over the market square and soon into the slated rooftops of the residential area. Here, a stronger and more varied allotment of human excrement assaulted his nostrils, but he could still smell the foreign scent of a man who had been in the walls for only a few days.

The presence within the residential area concerned him; it had only been twenty to thirty minutes since he'd apprehended (killed) the team as they attacked Wilkins in the heart of the market's lower areas. For the lost sheep of the UIR squad to both slip away, camouflage, _and_ cross half the town within that time, it meant he was either very lucky or very good.

Since he had managed to dupe Naruto, the blonde shinobi had to assume it was because the guy was good. He and his father combined didn't have the luck to slip past a former Hokage and cross fourteen blocks of busy, filthy street without raising any eyebrows. Therefore, he was immediately on alert.

Once he got closer to the origin of the odor, he descended to ground level. The surviving populace of Anvegad (despite his and Hoffman's best efforts, civilians had been lost) had grown used to him bouncing around at high speeds. The fact that he was doing it so much more urgently than usual was lost on them, however.

An idea occurred to him as he examined his surroundings. The locals were used to his more general shinobi antics, if they could be called that, but this newcomer would be flabbergasted and most likely _frightened_. If he could coax a reaction out of someone close to the origin of the odor, he'd have a near certain identification.

All he had to do was spook out his prey.

And for the first time in years, Naruto Namikaze began to stalk his quarry as a fox would stalk a deermouse.

* * *

Imrov Zagala had done several intrusions like this. His father, a medical doctor, would liken it to a prion. A small microprotein so simple and unchanged in its evolution that it must be passively ingested, allowed into the body rather than infecting it. Once inside, however, a prion can cause multiple deadly conditions. And here he was, passing through the body of Anvegad undetected. His destination was clear: the old fort command center.

One would have assumed he'd take civilian clothes as a disguise. But that would get him caught. He had not reached the rank of Captain by doing what was expected. He strode through the residential section with no fear of being stopped. His newly acquired COG armor and uniform shone in the dying sunlight. The guard had been unprepared, a sorry state for a guard to be in. He'd slipped a knife between the man's plates and into his chest cavity before the Gear had known what was happening. The armor was a bit heavier than what he was used to, but the helmet was surprisingly easy to see out of.

The ancient sewer systems were a blessing when it came to hiding a body. No one would see the man's corpse floating down a dark tunnel underneath the city. By the time he was done, there wouldn't be any survivors anyway.

The call had come down the previous night, and judging by how white Major Stromov's face had gotten, High Command was getting impatient. He could see their problem: why was a small garrison taking so long to pacify? The battle at Shavad had waned into defeat, and the forces committed to taking Anvegad were needed elsewhere. The answer had been found not in combat, but in rumor.

The special forces teams that dwelled within the rocks above Anvegad were dwindling every day, but one thing they transmitted was consistent. Every time a civilian was killed or injured, a UIR soldier died. Normally, Imrov would chalk this up to the COG's deluded sense of righteousness. But the reports were the same all around: a strange blonde man would somehow slaughter squads of specially trained commandos without firing a shot. Imrov had seen the strange knives imbedded in the bodies brought back.

As such, the Major had been prompt in his decision making: destroy the command center. Several pounds of explosive were easy to hide in a besieged castle, particularly one filled with garbage and unburned bodies. All Imrov had to do was sneak his team inside, plant the explosives, and stand by outside the blast radius until he got the all clear to blow Anvegad off the map.

But complications had arisen. He had split off from his team, both to insure against mission failure and to survey the inner workings of the area. He had done so just in time to watch his team get slaughtered before they could silence a female COG officer.

The blonde man had been swift, he had been strong, but most of all he had been completely silent. Imrov's men had been dragged off into the darkness of the tight alleys so quickly, it was as if there were several assailants. But every time, it had been the man from before.

With his team down, Imrov had been forced to take extra measures. He'd reallocated some of the explosives around the market, as if he had been tossing bottles of whiskey into the trash heaps. They'd brought too much for the job anyway.

And now, the entire market square was littered with charges that ran to his detonator. He hadn't even planted them; Imrov had just tossed them like so much garbage that already littered the entire city.

The commando looked up suddenly, a commotion coming from the small square behind him. The area in front of the main access to the upper echelon of the fort was simply a small, unimportant square with only a tiny well in the center. And upon that well stood a man in a flowing white battlecoat and long blonde hair. The one that had been wiping out UIR forces since the beginning of the siege. The one that had killed his men. And now he was using some sort of magic to manipulate the water from the well into the form of a dragon, its twisting serpentine body twirling around him like a snake. The three or four other people in the square, including a bald man in a soft cap and armor, all smirked and clapped at the scene.

But the blonde man was not focused on his audience, or the alien creation that circled so closely to him that it wet his coat. His piercing blue eyes were locked on Imrov, and the pistol the UIR commando had unconsciously gripped at the sight of him.

Before Captain Zagala could recover from his instinctive but careless mistake, the water dragon had dissipated into its more natural form, and the blonde man was in his face. An iron grip caught Imrov's hand before he could release the pistol, and his attacker kept the limb firmly secured behind his back.

"Lieutenant, I think I found our missing wolf." The blonde man said with a feral grin. "And he's wearing one of your sheep."

Suddenly, the bald man in the soft cap became much more important in Imrov's opinion. He walked over to where Naruto held the commando captive and ran his eyes over the nametag.

"Hollis was a good man." Hoffman said with a growl. "He ran the guns and the sappers here like a family. And I'm guessing you killed him."

Naruto removed Captain Zagala's stolen helmet, revealing his still balaclava-clad face to the chilly mountain air. If reading his commandeered armor's nametag had angered Hoffman, seeing Imrov's face must have infuriated him.

"I've sat in this fort for four goddamn months, watching my men die and the civilians under my protection starve. I've seen a pregnant woman refuse extra rations so that her husband can better protect his colleagues and MY charges. And here you are, _fucking it all up_."

Hoffman grabbed Imrov from Naruto's grasp, jerking him up by the collar with enough force to get rid of the pistol and the shinobi's iron grasp.

"I'll be damned if I see any more of your spec ops bullshit kill any more of our people! And I'll make sure you burn." By now, the two men were nose to nose. Victor Hoffman's infamous rage barking into the eerily calm visage of a veteran commando. And then Imrov smiled.

"If you'll be damned and I'm gonna burn, then I guess you'll be seeing me again." Imrov said with a smirk. And his free hand suddenly wasn't so free. Instead, a small detonator was clasped firmly in his grip. He had hidden it in his gauntlet, a small space in between armor and glove. And Hoffman watched him depress the lever.

The market square wasn't far. The blast wave and the heat knocked everyone in the square onto their bellies or backs. Hoffman's grasp was knocked loose by the explosion, sending Imrov down to the ground with them. A grim silence immediately followed the explosion as everyone in Anvegad struggled to ascertain exactly what had happened. All except for two: Naruto and Captain Zagala.

The UIR commando was already on his feet and two steps out before anyone else had recovered. Naruto looked up to see the sky wrought with flame, a column of orange and black smoke rising from the market square. There had been many civilians there. They'd been going about their own business, trying to survive in a war they had no true part in. They'd survived a drought, rampant disease, and brutal food rationing. And now they were scattered all over the square.

The lack of sound after a major explosion, commonly known as shellshock, stunned Hoffman as he picked himself up from the cobblestone-covered ground. That high pitched ringing he had become so familiar with in the months of shelling and bombs filled his head, leaving his eyes, nose, and touch to fill in the missing blanks his ears had left for him.

Another spray of red, one separate from the explosion, crossed his vision. But he was looking away from the square.

The strange three-pronged knife that Naruto was so well known for had lodged itself deep into Zagala's left calf muscle. The commando went down with a muffled cry of pain, sprawling onto the cobblestone headlong. Before he could so much as twitch, a sandal-clad foot found its way to the back of his neck, pinning him to the ground with all the authority of God himself. The force applied made Zagala wince, unable to remove the irksome dagger from his own leg for fear of losing all control of his body from the neck down.

Naruto's normally impassive eyes were alight with rage, his whiskers seeming much thicker in the flickering light cast by the still burning marketplace. His mouth was set in a thin line, his usual grin gone with the victims, though no trace of it was floating down in ash. He grasped the kunai and twisted it roughly, eliciting a cry of pain from the downed commando. Before Naruto could do any more, the Gears were on their feet quickly, three of them clamoring to pin down the bastard who had just fragged their friends.

Hoffman stepped in between Naruto and Zagala, certain that it was a purely symbolic gesture. Naruto, however, wanted nothing to do with it all. He stepped away, instead facing the rising column of smoke that now hung over Anvegad as a black omen. Hoffman looked down at Zagala with a sneer almost akin to a snarling dog, his pistol firmly in hand.

"I executed a civilian for stealing food today," He said darkly, glaring holes into the still gasping Zagala's eye sockets. "A man I had lived next to for months. That's something that will probably haunt me until they put my ass in the ground. But shooting you?" He pressed the firearm between Imrov's eyes with all the authority of God himself. "I'll never regret."

POW!

Zagala's eyes rolled back into his head as it snapped back, and the Gears dropped him like the sack of shit they perceived him to be. Hoffman watched the blood leak from the man's fatal wound for a second, then sighed heavily. He had failed to protect his charges again. The siege had cost him men, resources, and civilians, but now he was just so tired of it all. Victor holstered his weapon and stepped over beside Naruto as the Gears dragged Zagala's body away.

The blonde man said nothing as the two watched Anvegad burn, both facing inner turmoil but neither willing to break the silence. Finally, however, Hoffman's sense of duty forced him to do so.

"I'm not asking you to come to our side," He said without looking at Naruto, "but we have got to get these people out of here. Sheraya, Wilkins, the doc... they don't belong here."

Again, nothing from the tall blonde beside him. Still, Hoffman was talking now; he might as well finish and get to the request.

"The Indies offered safe passage for the civilians if we surrendered as well. I plan on taking that bargain."

This time, Naruto did look at him, some glint of surprise piercing his glare. Hoffman's mouth twisted into a grim smile, but there was no mirth in his words.

"I'll let you escort the civvies out of here, then lock the doors on them and burn the bastards alive. We'll keep the fort, and you'll evac the noncombatants. I'm sure we can both agree they have no place here."

"This is their home." Naruto finally said, locking eyes with Hoffman. "They'll want to return." Alderman Casani's distressed face crossed Hoffman's mind for a split second, but he shook his head clear of the image.

"The town can be rebuilt. Once you get them out and we clean house, they can come back. I just can't stand to lose another civvie to dysentery, mortars, or this." He gestured with disgust toward the bomb site. Naruto nodded, crossing his arms in the dying light. The choice was made before he ever spoke.

"I'll do my best to make sure they survive." He said lowly. Hoffman could accept that; they both knew by that evening's events that promises were off the table. And so they watched, as the place they had come to call home smoldered just before night fell over Kashkur.

* * *

I hope, and I mean sincerely frickin' hope that the lot of you have picked up the undertone I have going here. A reviewer mentioned Bijuu mode, and that is the only thing I can address without spoiling my attempt at intrigue. Kurama is gone. Kurama's chakra is gone. I'll add more explanation later, but there is no Bijuu mode. There is no Nature Chakra... well, that may not be entirely true. Anyway, there are no special modes. He just got two settings: mellow and pissed.


End file.
